Fright Night Magic Showdown
by ninewood
Summary: A week after Fright Night He's A Magic Man, Peter confronts someone from his dark past.  Or does he?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story is graphic and contains sex and gore. Please read only if you're old enough.

Chapter One

Manhattan, New York 2006

"Ginger!" Peter shouted as he walked down the hallway and pounded his fist on the dressing room door. The door opened when Ginger looked at him and brushed some hair out of her eyes. Dressed only in a white, silk dressing gown, she held onto the doorframe while he glanced up and down her body and she snapped her fingers to get his attention.

"What?" she asked as he stormed into the dressing room and headed for the couch. Sitting down, he placed his arms on the back of the couch while Ginger closed the door and looked at him, folding her arms under her breasts. "Well, what's your damage this time?"

"He did it again!" Peter shout as he stood up and started pacing back and forth.

"Are you talking about….?"

"Yeah, I went to watch his rehearsal and he was doing my act!" Peter said while throwing his hands into the air and she walked to him, stood in front of him and slid her arms around his waist. Looking down at her, Peter smiled as he felt his anger fading and held her head in his hands. Her lips felt warm and soft as they kissed then he moved back and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ginger asked and he turned, smiling at her.

"He might think he got away with it, but I planned ahead. Just sit tight and prepare for the screaming!" he said then left the room and Ginger frowned, blinking her eyes a few times.

Manhattan, New York 2011

MAGICAL DEATH AT THE GARDEN was the headline of the old newspaper clipping taped to the wall and Peter glared in the photograph. Several darts were pinned to the photograph and red ink horns and tail were drawn on the photograph. More photographs of Peter were taped to the wall while the dark eyes glared at them and a fist pounded against the wall, making some of the photographs fall the floor. The figure walked out of the room then down the hallway as the figure's shadow moved along the wall and the figure growled. The figure opened the door to the room at the end of the hallway and the figure walked into room, closing the door. The light from the windows lit up the room as the figure walked toward the statue sitting at the center of the room and the figure ran long fingers over the statue's muscular arm. The statue stood ten feet in height and the inhuman face was frozen in a snarl.

On the sides of the head of the statue were two ridged ears that came to a point at the top and the ear on the right had a nick taken out of it. Several boney lumps went from the top to the bottom of the statue's head and boney ridges covered the two, bulging eyes. The nose was pushed up and the mouth was open, showing three rows of sharp teeth. A thick neck rested on a muscular torso and a stub of a tail sat above the perfectly shaped bottom. Four, muscular arms stuck out of the torso and the large hands had four fingers and a thumb with long talons curved toward the palm of each hand and the hands were bent almost into fists. Two muscular legs held up the statue and the statue was standing on the balls of its two feet. Sharp talons bent in on the four toes on each foot and what appeared to be bone covered the statue's genitals.

Around the statue was a silver circle bolted to the floor and the figure lit the candles sitting on the points of the pentagram. Looking back at the statue, the figure smiled and walked out of the circle then walked to the wooden table. On the wooden table was a long, silver blade knife and the figure took the handle of the long, silver blade knife and picked the long, silver blade knife off the table. Walking to the silver circle, the figure looked at the statue and held the handle of the long, silver blade knife tightly. Walking into the silver circle, the figure stood in front of the statue, held the silver blade knife high in the air and the moonlight shimmered on the silver blade. With a swift motion, the figure lowered the silver blade and drops of blood dripped onto the floor.

Las Vegas, Nevada 2011

The soft sound of her lover's heartbeat woke Cassandra as her mind slowly drifted out of dreaming and she felt the soft, thick hairs on his chest under her fingers. Moving her fingers along his chest, she stroked the side of his left nipple and heard his breath catch in his chest. If someone had told her a week ago that she would find her soul mate, she would have laughed and told them to fuck off. She never believed in soul mates, but that was before she met Peter Vincent. Who knew that one audition would turn her world upside down and she would end up fighting to save not only her life, but the life of the man that was lying next to her,

Sure, she had heard that Peter was a drunk and an asshole, but she had found that it was all a lie. The true Peter Vincent was a sad, slightly broken and disillusioned man, whose life had been turned upside down when someone killed his parents, and that he had walled off his feeling and heart so he could never be hurt again. It took a teenage boy named Charlie to knock down a few of the bricks he had set up around his heart, but she was the one that knocked down the fucking walls. True, he still drank and acted like a first class jerk, but even the young women that worked with him had noticed the change.

"_Guess it's true about the love of a good woman," _Cassandra thought when she felt long fingers moving up her back and she smiled, rubbing the tip of Peter's nipple between her finger and thumb. His heart sped up a little as he sighed and slid his long fingers under her armpit, tickling her.

"Hey, no fair," she giggled then sat up and looked over at him. His dark brown hair was sticking up slightly on the top of his head and she brushed some of the fringe from his forehead. His eyes were still closed while his long lashes spread across his cheeks and she silently counted his freckles. Peter never thought himself as handsome, but she thought he looked amazing, even the tiny crow's feet at the corners of his eyes were sexy. His nose was a little crooked after being broken, but it still had that Roman look to it and his dimples made tiny dents in his cheeks as he barely smiled.

"Well, you started it," he grumbled and slowly opened his eyes. They were a chocolate brown color and seemed to twinkle in the light. Dark stubble dotted his cheeks, chin and neck and she gently stroked his cheek. Moving her hand along his neck down to his chest, she shook her head and he watched her fingers move down his chest, making little trails through the soft, thick hair on his chest, and slid down to his flat stomach. Dipping her fingers first into his navel then along the dent of his appendix scar, she walked her fingers back up his chest and he smiled at her. "Someone's in a playful move this morning."

"I'm just admiring you," she said with a grin and he rolled his eyes, sighing.

"Yeah, I'm a hunk and a half," he said and she playfully smacked his chest. "Cassy, I'm a skinny drink of nothing!"

"That's not what some of the card girls in the casino tell me. I've noticed them looking at you while you strut through the casino. You, Peter Vincent, are a hottie!" she said then leaned over and kissed his lips. His lips were full and soft and she kissed deeper, feeling his lips parting. His tongue met hers while she climbed on top of him and he held her head in his hands. Her hands moved along his sides when they moved back and both of them were breathless. "I think w-we'd better get up."

Peter glanced at the alarm clock sitting on the night table when he saw that it was eight fifteen and he sighed, remembering that he had an interview on a local television show at ten. Nodding, he watched her move the duvet back then get out of bed and held her hand out. He smiled then took her hand and they walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

Peter had his arms on the back of the couch while the hostess glanced at the bulge in his leather trousers every so often and the host seemed to be glaring at him. Peter had performed two tricks and was now talking about his show and crossed his legs.

"Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you," the host said as he ended the interview and they stood up, shaking hands. The hostess nearly fainted when Peter gently kissed her cheek and she whispered her phone number in his ear. Arching an eyebrow, Peter softly smiled at her then walked off set and looked at Cassandra and the young women, who were trying hard not to laugh.

"Was it that bad?" he asked while Cassandra picked up the cage with her familiar, Cross, inside and they headed for the exit door.

"No, but if she looked at your cock one more time…." Cassandra said as he smiled at her and kissed her cheek.

"I was amazed the toupee that guy was wearing stayed on when he dived onto the floor after Cross flew at him during the card trick," one of the young women said and Peter laughed, nodding his head. Someone called Peter's name when he turned around and saw the balding, black hair man running toward him. Peter noticed that the man's tie was undone and his black suit and white shirt were crumbled. The man was the producer of the show and he stopped, panting and held up a finger. After catching his breath, he looked at Peter and Peter crossed his arms over his chest, titling his head to one side.

"There's something I need to show you," the man finally said then turned and headed down the hallway.

Shrugging, Peter, Cassandra and the young women followed the man down the hallway when they walked into the production booth and headed for the table with the computer on it. They looked at the email on the screen and the email read PETER VINCENT, YOU ARE A LIAR AND A FRAUD. THE NEXT TIME WE MEET, I WILL KILL YOU!

"Is this a joke?" Peter asked.

"I don't know. We were looking through the emails and this was sent a few minutes into your interview. We've sent it to security, but there's no return address," the man said and Peter sighed, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, it's not the first time someone's threatened me," Peter said then turned and Cassandra and the young women followed out of the room. Cassandra could see that Peter was worried as they walked down the hallway and she slid her hand into his hand, making him smile.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Jane sat at the table while looking at the real estate ads when she sat back on the chair and sighed. Being a real estate agent, she thought that she would find a house for her and Charlie by now, but the bank was still skittish about giving her a loan for a new mortgage. She had explained that a gas leak blew up her house, but the man the bank had sent over to inspect the remains of her house couldn't find a trace of a gas leak and Jane growled, tapped the pen on the table.

"Stupid assholes," she muttered when the ping from the lift filled the air and she got up, walking out of the kitchen. She headed down the hallway when something flew past her and she watched the white Bengal tiger come to a halt in front of the lift doors. The doors opened when Peter and Cassandra walked out and Peter patted the tiger's head. The tiger was Peter's familiar and its name was Boe. Boe recently helped him in saving Cassandra from a vampire linked to not only his family, but her family and Peter still had trouble wrapping his head around the fact that his familiar was a white tiger.

"I don't know why you're making such a fuss," Peter said as he walked down the hallway, gave Jane's cheek a kiss then headed for the bar. Jane shrugged as she followed Cassandra down the hallway and the tiger walked beside Jane. Pouring some Midori into a glass, Peter walked to the chair in front of the window when he sat down and placed his left leg over the arm of the chair. Neither of the women cared when he pulled on the crotch of the leather pants until he felt comfortable and Peter saluted them with the glass then sipped on the Midori.

"Peter, someone wants to kill you," Cassandra said while sitting down on the chair across from him and Jane stood next to the chair.

"What are you talking about?" she asked as Peter told her about what happened at the studio and Jane's eyes widened. "Did you call the cops?"

"Oh, please, not you, too," Peter sighed while rolling his eyes and wiggled on the chair a bit. "Look, I get threats like that all the time. Someone gets pissed off that I was flirting with their girlfriend or wife, someone doesn't like my show or someone thinks I stole their act. It's a part of the job."

"You can only die once," Cassandra whispered and he titled his head to one side.

"Yeah, well, the station sent a copy of the email to the hotel and they'll handle it. What I want to do is go upstairs and take a shower," he said as he got up and headed for the stairs. He was half way up when he leaned on the railing and looked down at Cassandra. "Care to join me?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head and he sighed, heading up the stairs. Walking down the hallway, Peter walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Leaning against the door, he sipped on the Midori while he tried to figure out who he pissed off this time, but his brain couldn't come up with an answer and he sighed, placing the glass on the table near the door. Walking toward the door to the bathroom, he turned the light on as he headed for the toilet and placed the lid down. After getting undressed, Peter turned the water on then stepped into the shower and closed the glass door. The glass fogged over as he started washing his body and the mist from the shower gently floated to the ceiling.

The bathroom door opened while Peter walked toward the bed and tucked the end of the towel in. Sliding onto the bed, he tucked the towel between his legs then picked up his cell phone off the night table and pushed the button. Looking at the screen, he looked at the list of missed calls when he pushed the button and placed the back of his semi damp head against the headboard.

"Beep….Peter, this is Murray. I know you said you would never do Magic Showdown after last time, but the Hard Rock people are breathing down my neck. If you don't show this year then…well, I hope you've made new living arrangements," the voice of his agent said in his ear and Peter's eyes widened. He pushed the button then dialed his agent's number and his heart slammed hard in his chest.

"Hello?" Murray said as Peter tried to calm down and rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb.

"It's me. Are you fucking serious? The Hard Rock is going to fire me if I don't go to Magic Showdown?" Peter asked and head Murray sighing.

"Yeah, I am serious."

"Don't they remember what happened the last time I went?"

"Do you?" Murray asked and Peter looked at the cellphone, nearly seeing Murray smiling.

"Don't fuck with me, Murray."

"Sorry, look, they want your answer. Are you going or not?" he asked and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"It looks like I have no choice," Peter said and crossed one ankle over the other.

"No, you don't."

"Where are they holding it and when do I have to be there?"

"It's being held in New York and…Um…." Murray said and Peter felt his stomach falling. "You have to be there by tomorrow."

"What?" Peter shouted as he sat up then got up and started pacing. "How the hell am I supposed to get my gear, let alone my girls, there by tomorrow?"

"They already shipped your gear last night. Just get you and your girls to New York or…" Murray said and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I get it!" Peter said then ended the call and looked at the cell phone. Tossing the cell phone on the bed, Peter stormed out of the bedroom when he came down the stairs and Cassandra and Jane looked at him. He stormed toward the hallway while Cassandra got up then followed him and he stood in front of the lift doors, pushing the button.

"Um, Peter, where are you going?" she asked as she moved her fingers along his back and he shivered.

"I just got a call from my agent and…" Peter said as he turned around and she slid her arms around his waist. "He said I have to go to New York or I can say goodbye to all this."

"What?"

"The Hard Rock wants me to go to a show or I'm fired. It's not that I don't want to. It's just that something bad happened the last time I was there. So I have to go downstairs and tell the girls to get packed because we have to be there by tomorrow."

"Are you joking?" she asked when the pinging sound filled the air and the lift doors opened.

"No, I'm not," he said then walked into the lift and she smiled at him. "What?"

"Well, unless you want everyone to get an eyeful, you better get some clothes on," she said as he looked down to see he was still in a towel then smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Holy shit," one of the young women said when they walked out to the tarmac and looked at the private plane waiting to take them to New York. Peter held Cassandra's hand as they walked toward the plane and he swung her hand back and forth. The little staircase led up to the plane as the pilot opened the door and they walked up the little staircase, going inside the plane.

"Now this is what I call classy," Peter said in reference to the tan carpeting, the couches and seats, a plasma television in a cabinet, the dvd player and the selection of movie, the mini bar and the small kitchen and the curtain at the back led to the sleeping area.

"Guess it beats traveling coach," one of the young women said as she went to sit on the chair and buckled the seatbelt. The other young women sat down as Cassandra and Peter sat on the couch and Peter blushed as the flight attendant helped buckle his seatbelt. She was tall with long blonde hair and green eyes and she sweetly smiled at him. Peter coughed when he saw Cassandra glaring at her and he slid his arm around Cassandra's shoulders, gently pulling her toward him. The flight attendant walked away as Peter reached over and buckled Cassandra's seatbelt and she shivered while his fingers moved over her crotch.

"Like that, did you?" he whispered and she nodded her head. A few minutes later the plane moved down the tarmac while the young women looked out the window and Cassandra held onto Peter's hand. He kissed the back of her hand when the plane rose into the air and she shyly smiled at him.

"This is my first time in an airplane," she whispered and he nodded his head. The sign pinged as they unbuckled the seatbelts and Peter got up, walking to the minibar. He knelt down as Cassandra looked at his bottom straining against his jeans and he opened the door to the minibar. Taking out a bottle of Midori, he picked up a glass then poured some of the green liquid into the glass and placed the bottle back into the minibar. Standing up, he walked back to the couch when he sat down and handed her a bottle of water. The young women went to get drinks as they knelt down on the floor in front of them and he sipped on the Midori.

"I can't believe they were going to fire you if you didn't go. Didn't they remember the last time?" one of the young women asked.

'What happened last time?" Cassandra asked and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I got into a fight," he said and she arched her eyebrows up as her eyes widened. "It wasn't a big deal. There was this asshole stealing tricks and I caught him. He got pissed off and we had a showdown. I won. End of story."

"Do you think he was the one that send you that email?"

"Nah, it's not him," Peter said as he sipped on the Midori.

"It's not?"

"Nope, and the reason I know it's not him is because he's dead."

Manhattan, New York

The blue and red lights blinked on the police cars as the alleyway was blocked on either end by police tape and the police officers stood near the police tape. A blue car pulled up behind the coroner car as the doors opened and two figures got out of the car, heading for the alleyway. One man was tall with short brown hair and brown eyes and the other man was tall with auburn hair with gold and yellow highlights and green eyes and they showed their identification to the police officer. The police officer lifted the police tape as Detective Mark Baker and Detective Seamus Kincaide walked down the alleyway, looking at the forensic officers gathering evidence and taking pictures. They stopped at the crime scene as Dr. Jessie Forest sat back on her legs and smiled when she saw them standing near the dumpster. Doctor Forest was coroner assigned to the scene as she stood up and looked down at the body lying on the ground.

"Hey, Doc," Mark said as she nodded and brushed some of her blonde hair out of her gray eyes.

"Now that's a mess," Seamus said as he looked at the body and felt a little sick.

"Yeah, and we're not sure if that's all of it," Jessie said.

"Got any info on who this is?" Mark asked.

"No, the clothes have been torn to shreds, meaning whatever identification is most likely shredded as well. I'll learn more when I get it back to the morgue," Jessie said and they nodded. Walking back down the alleyway, Seamus looked at Mark as Mark balled his hands into fists and Seamus knew that his partner hated mysteries. As they got back into the car, neither of them noticed something perched on the rooftop and a low growl filled the air.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Cassandra asked as she stood near the small bed at the back of the plane and the soft purr of the engines filled the room.

"Oh yeah," Peter said as he moved the bedding back and smiled back at her. He was wearing only his gray boxers as she felt a blush move over her body and he sat down on the bed. Patting the mattress, he looked at her as she undressed slowly and his erection peeked out of the flap in his boxers. She slowly moved toward the bed when he went to lie on his back and she climbed on top of him. She was just wearing her bra and panties as he watched her slid her hands under his shoulders and kissed his lips. Cupping her head in his hands, he slid his tongue between her lips and she placed her hands on the mattress, gently pushing her body off of him and kissed him deeper. She slid her body up and down his body while his erection bumped against her thighs when she moved back and he smiled up at her. Straddling his hips, she unsnapped the sides of her panties then slid them off and his eyes widened. "Naughty!"

"Yep," she whispered then, with a little help from Peter, removed his boxers, slid his cock inside her and gently rocked back and forth. Peter sighed as he pushed against her when the room shook and she yelped, sliding off of him and laid on top of him. "What was that?"

"Sorry about that, folks, looks like we're in for a little turbulence," the pilot said as Peter softly giggled and she glared at him.

"So much for me joining The Mile High Club," she sighed as Peter arched his eyebrows up and she looked at him. Sitting up, she straddled his hips again and he grinned. The young women softly giggled when they heard Cassandra call out Peter's name then went back to watching the dvd they were watching and the sky darkened outside the windows.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Manhattan, New York 2006

Normally Peter didn't mind when someone borrowed one of his tricks, hell, he had borrowed a trick or two in his time, but to flat out steal his act was something he wasn't going to tolerate. Walking down the hallway, he walked into the main showroom and looked around. He had performed at Madison Square Garden a number of times and was still amazed by it. Some of the others called out to him as he nodded his head and waved his left hand at them. Walking faster, he headed for the stage while the person in question was doing one of his tricks then yelped when the fire in the pit on the stage shot up and the person fell bottom down onto the stage.

"_Bloody wanker!" _Peter thought as he stormed for the stage and ran up the steps.

"Oi, just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded as the person in question slowly turned around and….

Manhattan, New York 2011

"Peter, wake up," Cassandra said when Peter opened his eyes and she smiled, brushing the hair out of his eyes.

"What's wrong?" he mumbled and she kissed his lips, making his heart speed up a bit.

"We're here," one of the young women said from the doorway as he glared at her then sighed, placing his head on the pillow. Nodding, he watched the young women walk away as the curtain closed while Cassandra helped him up and Peter frowned, trying to remember his dream then sighed and went to get dressed.

The plane sat on the tarmac as the flight attendant widened her eyes when Peter came out from the back room and was dressed in his leather boots, leather pants and leather coat and was made up in his makeup, wig, sideburns, goatee and moustache. Cassandra gave her a cool look as they headed for the small staircase and left the plane. A stretch limo was waiting for them as the limo driver opened the back door and the young women got in. Cassandra smiled while Peter held her hand as she got in then he looked at the men taking the luggage off the plane and he folded his arms over his chest.

"Careful with that!" he said as one of the men smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Keep your shorts on, Lord Gaga!" he whispered and the other man laughed. Peter had heard him as he glared at him, concentrated and snapped his fingers. The men yelped when their jeans dropped to their feet and Peter smiled, getting in the limo.

The limo stopped at the curb when the driver got out of the limo and opened the door. The young women got out of the limo as he helped them when he looked in the back of the limo then coughed, leaning against the limo. Peter and Cassandra were sleeping with Cassandra's hand resting between Peter's legs and the limo driver didn't know if he should wake them or not.

"We're here!" one of the young women shouted when Peter's eyes snapped open from Cassandra digging her nails into his cock and the limo driver softly smiled. Growling, Peter got out of the limo then turned and helped Cassandra out of the limo and the limo driver closed the door. The doorman came out with a luggage cart as the limo driver opened the boot of the limo and Peter looked up, seeing the large banner with his picture on it hanging on the front of the hotel with some spot lights shining on the banner.

"Blimey," he whispered as the doorman pushed the luggage cart toward the doors and the young woman followed him. Cassandra looked up at the banner while the banner moved in the breeze and she slid her arm around Peter's waist. Smiling, Peter held her as they headed for the door and Cassandra placed her head against his arm.

Jessie stood near the steel table while she placed the remains of the liver onto the scale and wrote on the chart. The sheet covering the body was stained from blood as she placed the liver back inside the body then looked up as the doors opened. Seamus and Mark walked inside the room while heading for the metal table and Seamus stood behind Mark.

"So, Doc, did you figure out who this is?" Mark asked, looking at the body.

"Not yet. I did get a print off of one of the remaining fingers and sent some of the teeth to see if there are any dental records," Jessie said as Mark nodded and Seamus looked down at the floor.

"Do you know the T.O.D.?" Mark asked as Jessie looked at the chart and tapped the chart.

"Yep, T.O.D. was between eight and eight forty-five p.m.," Jessie said and Mark nodded his head.

"What I don't get is what could do this much damage," Mark said as he slid a pair of rubber gloves on and picked up the body's right arm.

"I was going with maybe an escaped lion or bear, but I called the Central Park Zoo and all of their animals are accounted for. Then there is the angle of the marks."

"What about them?" Mark asked and Jessie took the metal pointer out of the pocket of her lap coat, opened the metal pointer and tapped some of the wounds on the body's chest.

"As you can see, there are five, jagged wounds. If this was a bear or a lion, there would only be four."

"Are you suggesting that whatever did this had five fingers?" Mark asked and Jessie nodded, retracting the metal pointer and placed the metal pointer in her pocket. "Shit, so what we're looking for is some sort of gorilla?"

"I've never seen a gorilla with razor sharp claws and whatever this was ate nearly all of him!" Jessie said then looked at Seamus and slight smiled. "The bathroom's that way!"

Nodding, Seamus ran to where she was pointing then closed the door and Mark lightly laughed, shaking his head.

"There is something else," Jessie said as she removed a wad of blood soaked paper from the bowl on the tray to her left and gently unfolded the paper. "I found it crammed into the chest cavity."

Mark picked up the paper as he looked at the picture on the paper and could just make out COMING TO THE HARD ROCK HOTEL – PETER VINCENT'S FRIGHT NIGHT.

"Who the hell is Peter Vincent?" he asked while Seamus came out of the bathroom and Mark slid the paper into a plastic bag he had taken out of his pocket.

"Oh my God!" Cassandra said after the lift doors opened and she followed Peter into the penthouse. Unlike his penthouse, the penthouse only had one floor and the furniture was elegant and posh with crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The bar to the left was loaded with bottles and glasses and Peter walked to the large window, looking out at the city. The luggage had been brought up while they were checking out the showroom and most of Peter's equipment had been set up. The rest of the equipment had been sent to where Magic Showdown was being held and Peter removed the battered pack of cigarillos and his silver lighter from his coat pocket. He removed one of the cigarillos then placed the batter pack into his coat pocket and lit the cigarillo with the silver lighter. Cassandra had walked to the bar as she poured him a glass of Midori then walked over to him and handed him the glass.

"Quite a view," Peter said, taking the cigarillo out of his mouth and sipped on the Midori.

"Don't you want to change?" she asked as he looked at his reflection and sighed, nodding his head. She watched him saunter toward the bedroom door when he turned around and held his hand out. She walked toward him as she took his hand and he opened the door.

"Shit!" he shouted when Cross flew into the living room then settled on a large, china urn near the bar and Peter stood against the wall, his hand on his chest while his heart slammed against his fingers. Boe slowly walked out of the bedroom when it settled in front of the large window and Cassandra softly smiled. "Where the fuck did they come from?"

"They must have followed us by using the Dark Road," she said as she slid her hand under his hand and felt his heartbeat. The Dark Road is a passage that witches, wizards and other magical beings use to travel from one place to another, but it can be hazardous if anyone strayed off the path. Peter had used the Dark Road only once and he would have become lost if Boe hadn't led the way.

"Ah, well, that's explains it," Peter said with a nod of his head then took her hand and they walked inside the bedroom, closing the door behind them. Boe glanced over at the door then made a soft snorting sound before it placed its head on its paws, closed its eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Sitting at his desk, Mark looked at the photographs on the dry board while Seamus typed on the keyboard and Mark balled his hands into fists. Next to the photographs was the paper that was advertising Peter's appearance at the Hard Rock and Seamus was trying to find out who Peter was.

"I found something!" Seamus said as Mark walked to Seamus' desk and leaned on the back of the chair. On the screen was Peter's Fright Night website as they looked at the home page and Mark's eyes widened.

"You have to be kidding," he said as he looked at the information on the screen and Seamus smiled.

"Nope, according to this, he is an expert on…vampires!" Seamus said with a grin and Mark rolled his eyes.

"There is no such thing as vampires!" Mark said as Seamus clicked on the BIO tab and Peter's biography appeared on the screen. Reading the biography, they frowned as Seamus looked up at Mark and Mark stood up, scratching his neck. "Shit."

"That's not the only thing. I found this," Seamus said when he opened another window as Ginger's death notice appeared on the screen and Mark read the death notice.

"Wait, it says here that she worked for this Vincent guy," he said and Seamus nodded.

"It also said that she was attacked by an unknown assailant and her throat was torn open."

"Did they question Vincent?"

"Yeah, but he wasn't charged with anything," Seamus said and Mark sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. Walking to the dry board, Mark looked at the paper advertising Peter's show when he pulled the paper off the dry board and looked at the picture of Peter.

"Doing anything tomorrow?" Mark asked as he glanced at Seamus and Seamus titled his head to one side.

"No. Why?" he asked and Mark crumpled the paper in his hand.

"We're going to go see what Mister Vampire Hunter knows about our John Doe," he said then dropped the paper to the floor and stormed out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The soft thumping of Peter's heartbeat woke her as Cassandra spread her fingers over his chest and the tip of her index finger rubbed the underside of his left nipple, making his breath catch in his chest. Barely awake, she stroked her fingers along his side and a cool numbness woke him. Not wanting to open his eyes, Peter breathed softly as her fingers caressed his skin and stroked the underside of his nipple. Cassandra did butterfly kisses on his chest when she slid her lips over his left nipple and he sucked in a breath as she gently swirled her tongue around his nipple. Her teeth scraped against his nipple as he blinked his eyes open and looked at the ceiling, feeling a cool tingle moving through him. Cassandra moved her fingers up his left arm while kissing across his chest and gently sucked on his right nipple.

"Are you awake?" she teased as he shook his head and grinned. Softly laughing, she kissed down his chest while her fingers slid down his stomach to his appendix scar and Peter sighed. Moving the duvet back, she sat on his legs as she stroked his sides and he made a soft humming sound. She slowly moved her hands up and down his chest and stomach then hovered over him, kissing his lips. He opened his eyes while she slowly started lying on top of him and slid her hands under his shoulders. His body tingled as she kissed from his lips to his neck and nuzzled her nose against his Adam's apple. She moved up a bit to look into his chocolate brown eyes and he closed his eyes so she could kiss his eyelids.

"Stop teasing me," he whispered while rubbing against her and his cock bumped against her thighs. Kissing down his body, Cassandra sat on his legs as she stroked his thin hips then across his crotch and he smiled at her. She kissed his stomach then sat up and stroked his balls. He knew she was taking her time as his body tingled and his heart started to speed up. He loved how gentle she was with him, but there were nights that they rutted like animals and he admitted gently morning sex was his favorite. Cassandra slid her fingers under his cock as she felt the quick pulse against her fingers and stroked the warm skin. He made a soft giggle as she tickled the base of his cock and she smiled sweetly at him.

"Have I told you that you have the cutest giggle?" she asked and he shook his head. Her fingers moved up and down the underside of his cock as she felt his cock growing hard and warm and she did little butterfly kisses down his shaft. Peter moaned as he rolled his eyes and she gently pulled on his cock, making it grow harder. He covered his mouth to prevent a small yelp when she blew on the tip and stroked the tip with the pad of her thumb. The cool numbness moved over him as she slid his cock in her mouth and swirled her tongue, licking and nibbling on his cock. Moaning, Peter ached to be inside her as his cock grew harder and she slid his cock deeper into her throat. The cool numbness turned into a warm rush of pleasure and pain as he groaned and balled his hands on the mattress.

"Let me in!" he moaned as she removed his cock from her mouth then climbed on him and slid his rock hard cock inside her. Slick and hard, she felt him pushing against her and started rocking on him. She moved harder and faster while pressing against him and stroked her fingers on his stomach. His heart thudded in his ears as he arched his body up and she moved faster and harder. His climax swirled around him in waves as he pumped his seed into her and slumped onto the bed. Breathing hard through his nose, he watched her climb off him and walked to the bathroom. He had wondered if she was on the pill, seeing how often they've been having sex, and he sighed, looking at the ceiling.

"_Come off it, Peter. If she was pregnant she would have told you by now. Then again, it's only been a week. How long does it take before a woman knows she's going to have a baby or not?" _he thought while thinking about the times they had sex over the last week when she walked out of the bathroom, heading for the bed. She had a towel and a semi-wet flannel in her hands as she sat on the bed and washed him off. While drying him off, she noticed the look in his eyes as she leaned closer and kissed his lips.

"What's wrong?" she asked and he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Oh, I'm just being a jerk," he sighed and she titled her head to one side, giving him a confused look.

"And what have you done this time that you're feeling like a jerk?" she asked and he smiled.

"Well, I have been tested for shit, which means I am clean of AIDS, HIV and STDs, but we've been….," he said when she got the idea where he was going and placed her hand on his chest. He noticed the sadness in her eyes then held his arms out and she climbed onto the bed, snuggling against him. He wrapped his arms around her as she placed her head on center of his chest and his heart thumped in her ear. "See, I'm being a jerk. I ruined our morning."

"No, you haven't," she whispered and he kissed the top of her head. "There's something I have to tell you."

"And that would be?" he asked as she looked at him and his eyebrows were nearly under his fringe and his eyes were wide.

"When I was sixteen, I was in a car accident. I got pretty messed up and they thought I would never walk again."

"I have seen the scar on your back," he said as he stroked her back and she shivered.

"Well, I did walk again, but the accident did something to my insides. I can't…I…" she said then sniffed and he wiped the tears from her eyes.

"You're sterile?" he asked and she nodded her head. Lifting her chin, he kissed her as she softly smiled and he brushed the hair from her eyes. "Hm, I didn't notice. I mean you do go off like a rocket!"

"That's because you have the magic touch!" she teased and he softly laughed. "Um, is that why you're looking like that? Were you wondering if I was pregnant?"

"Well, yeah, we've been rutting like animals this last week and I was a bit worried. Not that I don't want kids! It's just that we've just gotten together and barely know each other. True, we know something, but not all. There are some secrets that I'm just not ready to share with you just yet. I may never share them. The thing is I was concerned, but that's been resolved. Now, if we do want to settle down, there are things we could do if we want kids. So, I am saying right here and right now that if you're willing to adopt then I am all for it!" he said with a grin when she started crying and he lifted her chin to look at her. "Oh, what's with the tears?"

"I just…I never thought….When guys found out...," she stuttered as he hushed her and held her tighter. She calmed down a few minutes later when he reached over for some tissues and she blew her nose after he handed them to her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" he said as she felt him moving and he got up, knelt on the bed and looked her straight in the eyes. "Do you remember when I said I nothing to lose and I admitted that I did? I do! And then you asked if I was happy? I am totally happy and in love with you! I want to have kids with you! I want…"

The sound of the telephone ringing made them jump when he flopped down on the bed, rolled onto his back, reached over and picked up the receiver.

"Yeah, what is it?" Peter grumbled while Cassandra snuggled against him and placed her head on the center of his chest.

"This is McCann from reception. I'm sorry to wake you, Sir, but did you hear anything during the night?" the voice asked as Peter thought for few moments then rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb and Cassandra smiled while his stomach gurgled in her ear, covering the soft sound of his heartbeat.

"No, I didn't hear anything. Why?" Peter asked and shivered as Cassandra stroked his side.

"Well, I think you better come down, Sir. There's something you really need to see," McCann said as Peter sighed and rolled his eyes.

"This better be fucking worth it or I will have your ass fired!" Peter growled then slammed the receiver down on the cradle of the telephone and Cassandra looked up at him.

"Guess we better get up," she said as he nodded and they got up, walking to the bathroom and the door closed behind them.

The lift doors opened while Cassandra and Peter walked toward the reception desk and McCann looked at them. McCann was a tall man with short blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing a black suit, a white shirt, a black tie, black socks and black shoes. Peter was in full makeup, wig, sideburns, goatee and moustache and was wearing a black, silk dressing gown and black, silk short. Cassandra was wearing a white, silk dressing gown and a white, silk nightie and McCann coughed while looking at her breasts.

"Eyes front, Asshole!" Peter growled as McCann coughed and looked at him. "What is so fucking important that you interrupted me fucking my lovely lady here?"

"Um, this way, Sir," McCann said as he walked around to the front of the reception desk and pointed to the front door. Cassandra looked at Peter as he smiled at her and they followed McCann as he walked to the door. Walking outside, Cassandra was glad that it was a warm morning as they stood just outside the door when they looked at the two chunks of cement lying shattered on the ground and the banner that advertised his show was on the ground as well, torn and scattered over the pavement.

"What the hell?" Peter asked as he walked closer then knelt down and Cassandra titled her head, watching his bottom strain against the black, silk shorts.

"I am sorry, Sir. We have no idea how this happened, but the management will replace banner," McCann said as Peter stood up when a blue car pulled up to the curb and two men got out of the car, walking toward them.

"Peter Vincent, stay where you are," Mark said as he walked to Peter and Peter crossed his arms over his chest.

"Who the fuck are you?" Peter asked.

"I'm Detective Mark Baker and this is Detective Seamus Kincaide," Mark said as he showed Peter his identification and Peter tilted his head to one side, giving them a bored look.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" Peter asked while Cassandra walked closer and slid her arms around his arm.

"Look, we just want to talk," Mark said while Peter arched his eyebrows nearly under the wig and gave them a little smile.

"And I just want to get back to fucking my lady here. Buh-bye," Peter said then turned and Cassandra followed as they went back into the hotel and Mark growled, balling his hands into fists.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Cassandra tried hard not to laugh as they walked across the lobby and several female guests and female staff grinned, watching Peter walking by. He gave them a bad boy grin when the door opened and Mark and Seamus stormed into the lobby.

"Peter Vincent, I order you to stop!" Mark shouted as Peter kept walking then turned around, walked backwards and smiled. "I said…"

"I know what you said, but I'm not in the mood. Now go away!" Peter said wide eyed while flipping them off then walked down the hallway and went around the corner. The manager stormed over to Mark and Seamus as he demanded to know who they were and they showed the manager their identification. Nodding, the manager stood back while Mark and Seamus ran to catch up with Peter and Cassandra, but the hallway was empty as they sighed and Mark gently pounded the wall.

"Shit," he said softly while Seamus looked around then saw the doors to the lift that led to the penthouse and pointed. "Right, let's go see if the manager will give us the key."

"He might not, seeing that we don't have a warrant," Seamus said as they walked down the hallway and Mark growled, balling his hands into fists.

"Fuck, I can't believe you did that!" Cassandra said as Peter sauntered out of the bedroom, headed for the bar and smiled at her.

"Well, they interrupted a very tender moment," he said as he wagged the cigarillo at her then placed the end of the cigarillo in his mouth. She watched him pouring some Midori into a glass then poured some ice water into another glass and walked toward her with the glasses in his hands. She was sitting on the couch as he slid onto the couch and she snuggled against him, placing the back of her head against his chest. He slid his arm around her as he handed her the glass of ice water, took the cigarillo out of his mouth then sipped on the Midori and she felt the light rise and fall of his chest.

"But they were cops," she sighed and he placed the cigarillo in one of the glasses, placed the glasses on the glass top of the coffee table then wrapped his arms around her.

"Should I call down and see if they're still downstairs?" he asked as she turned her head to look back at him then nodded her head and sat up, allowing him to get up and watched him walk to the telephone on the bar. He was only wearing his jeans as he turned around to look at her when he picked up the receiver and pushed the buttons. The ringing filled his ear as Peter arched his eyebrow when Cassandra got off the couch and walked to the bar. She stood next him while he watched her fingers walked up his bare chest then jumped when something clicked in his ear and she softly smiled.

"McCann," McCann said as Peter tried not to shiver while Cassandra moved her fingers along his appendix scar and she licked her lips.

"Are those cops still here?" Peter asked, half growling.

"Yes, Sir, they are," McCann said.

"Well, send them up," Peter said then placed the receiver down on the cradle of the telephone and pulled Cassandra to his body. She held him when he kissed her lips and pulled her t-shirt out of her jeans. His hands slid under the t-shirt while her skin pebbled against his fingers and she moaned softly in his mouth. Moving his hands upward, he cupped the underside of her breasts in his hands while she buckled against him and he slid his right arm around to her back to hold her up. She wasn't wearing a bra as his thumb stroked the tip of her right nipple and Cassandra felt her knees growing weaker. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Cassandra stroked the back of his head while rubbing his leg with her leg and he picked her up, placed her on the top of the bar and she wrapped her legs around his back.

"Excuse me!" a voice said when she looked over Peter's shoulder, saw Mark and Seamus standing near the couch and she tapped the back of Peter's head.

"This is going to be awkward," Peter said as she looked down and saw his erection straining against his zip. Walking behind the bar while Cassandra crossed her legs, Peter placed his lower arms on the top of the bar, leaned over and looked at Mark and Seamus. "Well, you wanted to talk. Go on."

"Where is Peter Vincent?" Mark asked and Cassandra smiled, ruffling Peter's hair.

"I'm Peter Vincent," Peter said as they walked closer and Seamus softly smiled.

"Oh, I get it! This is what you normally look like," Seamus said and Peter nodded his head.

"So what do you want?" Peter asked, getting annoyed.

"I need you to tell me what you know about this!" Mark said as he walked to the bar and placed the plastic bag with the bloody flyer inside on the top of the bar and Peter looked at the crumpled paper.

"Well, that's one of my flyers," he said then looked at Mark and tilted his head to one side. "Where did you get it?"

"We found it crammed in the chest cavity of a body," Mark said as he locked eyes with Peter, trying to see if Peter flinched, but Peter only widened his eyes and looked at the paper again.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, so mind telling me where you were last night?" Mark asked.

"Wait, shouldn't he have a lawyer?" Cassandra asked as Peter looked at her, stood up and placed his arms over his bare chest.

"She's right. If you're going to question me then I want my lawyer," Peter said.

"Why? Are you trying to hide something?" Mark asked.

"Just covering my ass," Peter said then walked around to the front of the bar and stood toe to toe with Mark. "So, unless you want to arrest me, you better go!"

"Fine, call your lawyer," Mark half shouted. Seamus handed Peter a piece of paper with the address to the precinct as they walked toward the hallway and Peter looked at the piece of paper.

"Asshole," Peter said while Cassandra walked to him and he placed the piece of paper on the top of the bar when he saw that they forgot the plastic bag and smiled. Before he could pick up the plastic bag, Seamus ran back into the room, picked up the plastic bag, shrugged and left the room. Rolling his eyes, Peter took Cassandra's hand as he led her to the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

The doors opened as Mark stormed down the hallway while Seamus followed him and knew that his partner was in a mood.

"That son of a bitch," Mark grumbled while they walked outside then saw that the rubble and torn banner had been blocked off and walked toward the rubble. Looking up, Mark tried to see where the rubble had come from when he saw the large holes in the walls and Seamus ducked under the saw horses they had set around the rubble and the torn banner. Seamus knelt down then looked at the torn banner when he took out his cell phone and used the photo application to take pictures of the torn banner. "Hey!"

"One second," Seamus said when he finished taking pictures then put on a pair of rubber gloves, took a plastic bag out of his coat pocket and placed a few scraps into the plastic bag. A few minutes later he ducked under the saw horses and walked to Mark. "Just taking a few scraps."

Rolling his eyes, Mark walked to the front of the building as he looked up at the holes in the wall then looked at the rubble and scratched the back of his neck.

"You'd think something like that would have caused some sort of commotion. I mean who doesn't notice two chunks of wall being tosses to the ground?" Mark asked while Seamus stood next to him and folded his arms over his chest.

"It's New York. No one notices anything. Maybe they caught something on the security cameras," Seamus said with a grin and Mark sighed, heading for the door.

Peter placed the receiver down on the cradle of the telephone as he plopped his head down on the pillow and Cassandra snuggled closer, placing her head on the center of his chest. His heart thumped softly in her ear as she stroked the soft, thick hair on his chest and he smiled.

"Well?" she asked as he kissed the top of her head and stroked her back.

"He agrees that he should be present at the questioning," Peter sighed and rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb.

"When did he want to do this?"

"Tomorrow morning," he said then remembered that they had to go to where the Magic Showdown was being held and sighed. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"I just remembered that we have to register at the Magic Showdown or I'm fucked," he said as they got out of bed and headed for the bathroom.

After talking to the manager at the Hard Rock about the holes in the wall, Mark and Seamus looked at the reports they had gathered from the staff at the Hard Rock while waiting for the security staff to send them the video of the outside of the hotel and Mark softly growled. He looked up when the other officers in the squad room gasped and Seamus smiled, seeing Cassandra, Peter and a tall man in a gray suit walking into the squad room. Peter was in makeup, wig, sideburns, moustache and goatee and was wearing his leather pants, leather boots and leather coat. Some of the female officers grinned at Peter while he barely nodded his head and Cassandra rolled her eyes, sliding her arms around his arm.

"Hello, I am Duncan Faller. I'm Mister Vincent's lawyer," Duncan said as he shook hands with Mark and Seamus and placed his leather briefcase on the top of the desk.

"This way," Mark said as he led them to the interrogation room and opened the door. Peter noted that the interrogation room looked like any interrogation room on crime shows he watched sometimes and had mirror he knew was one of those mirrors someone stood behind in the next room and saw the camera in the corner. The walls, ceiling and the tile floor were white and a wooden table sat at the center of room. Four chairs sat around the table and two windows showed the hallway. The lights were embedded on the ceiling and a wooden table sat near the door.

"Please sit," Seamus said as Peter, Duncan and Cassandra sat down and Seamus sat on the chair cross from Peter. "So, mind telling us where you were last night, Mister Vincent?"

"Well, for most of the night, I was on a plane and was having my way with her," Peter said with a grin on his face and gently nodded his head toward Cassandra. Duncan had opened his briefcase when he removed a paper then slid the paper to Seamus and Seamus took the paper, looking at the information.

"What's that?" Mark asked, walking closer and leaned on the back of the chair.

"It's testimony from the pilot and the crew. He was on the plane," Seamus said then looked at Cassandra. "And so was she."

"Where were you the rest of the night?" Mark asked, looking at Peter.

"I was at the Hard Rock," Peter said then looked at Cassandra again. "Again, I was having my way with her."

"What time did you arrive at the Hard Rock?' Seamus asked.

"I think it was ten or so," Peter said when Duncan pulled out another piece of paper and slid the paper to Seamus. Seamus took the piece of paper when he looked at the paper and Seamus sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Well?" Mark asked.

"It's the Hard Rock registry. Mister Vincent signed in at ten oh five. And…," Seamus said as he looked at the other piece of paper. "The plane didn't land at the airport until nine thirty."

"Which means I wasn't here when whoever it was died," Peter said when the telephone on the wall rang and Mark walked to the telephone, picking up the receiver.

"Hello," Mark said, leaning against the wall.

"Hey, it's Jessie," Jessie's voice said and he barely smiled.

"What's up, Doc?" he asked and looked at Peter.

"We got an id on the remains," she said and Mark's eyebrows rose.

"Right, see you in a bit," Mark said then hung the receiver on the cradle of the telephone then looked at Seamus. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Seamus asked as he got up and walked closer.

"That was Jessie. She needs to see us," Mark said then looked at Peter. "Care to join us?"

"Why do you need me for?" Peter asked, getting confused.

"Well, you never know. Whatever did this might have been a vampire. That's right down your alley, isn't it?" Mark asked sarcastically while Peter sighed, stood up and followed them out of the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Jessie stood near the metal table as the doors opened and her eyes widened when Peter followed Mark and Seamus inside with Cassandra and Duncan following behind him. Jessie glanced up and down Peter's body as he gave her a bad boy grin and a blush moved over Jessie's body.

"Well, Doc, who is this?" Mark said while snapping his fingers and Jessie looked at him.

"Oh!" Jessie said as she looked at the chart on the small table and moved her finger along the paper. "Name's Henry Altman and he worked for Fielding and Morse."

"And what is that?" Peter asked as he sauntered toward her and placed his hands on his hips, spreading the leather coat behind him. His eyebrows were raised and he gave her a slight grin while Jessie blushed and brushed some hair behind her ear.

"It's a law firm," she said as he looked down at the paper and was glad he could read upside down.

"Ah, and who identified the body?"

"His wife got worried when he didn't come home last night and called hospitals and morgues, looking for him," she said and he nodded his head.

"Did she come and identify the body?"

"Yeah, but she fainted and was sent to the hospital. I called a friend and she said the wife was going to be alright," Jessie said and Peter gave her a blank look, nodding his head.

"And where's the body?" he asked as she pointed toward the metal doors where the bodies were and he walked to the metal doors, turning to see her watching him. Looking back at his ass, he widened his eyes as he gave her a bad boy grin and Jessie coughed, walking toward him. Jessie opened the metal door when she moved the metal shelf back and Peter looked at the white sheet covering the body. His stomach gurgled as he prepared himself for seeing the body and Jessie moved the sheet back. Peter looked down at the body when he saw that Jesse had sewn most of the body shut and Peter blinked his eyes a few times. "Ah, does anyone have some rubber gloves?"

Jessie handed him a pair of rubber gloves after he had removed his rings and Peter placed the rubber gloves on. Mark and Seamus walked closer to stand next to Peter and Jessie took the metal pointer out of her pocket. Extending the metal pointer, she tapped the wounds on the body's chest and Peter titled his head, waiting for her to talk.

"As you can see from these wounds, whatever did this has more than one set of hands," she said as Peter looked at the wounds and pointed to the wounds while counting them.

"I would bother to guess two sets," he said and she nodded her head.

"What do you think did this?" Mark asked when Seamus leaned against the metal doors and Peter saw that Seamus' face was bright green.

"The bathroom's over there," Jessie said as she pointed to the door and Seamus ran, closing the door behind him after he ran into the bathroom. "Sorry about that."

"Ah, no problem," Peter said as he looked at the body then felt something drifted toward him and Peter held his hand over the body. Suddenly he fell onto his bottom after something slammed into his hand and he looked at his hand. "Blimey."

"Are you alright?" Jessie asked as she ran around to the other side of the metal shelf and Peter nodded, shaking out his hand. Jessie helped him off the floor when he looked at the body and titled his head to one side.

"Can't you feel that?" Peter asked as he placed his hand over the body and a wave of energy rippled under his fingers. Jessie and Mark placed their hands over the body, but didn't feel anything and Peter slowly walked toward the head and placed his hands on both sides of the head. "Bugger, this thing is buzzing with power."

Cassandra walked to Peter when she looked down at the body and Peter wrapped his arm around her waist. Slowly lifting her hand, she moved her hand over the head and felt the energy moving under her hand.

"Fuck," she whispered as Peter nodded and Mark and Jessie looked at them.

"What?" Mark asked.

"His body's is surging with energy," Peter said while Mark moved his hand up and down the body, but still couldn't feel anything and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know you can't feel it, but it's there. Trust me."

"How did it get there?" Jessie asked, giving him a questioning look.

"I have no idea," Peter said while Seamus walked out of the bathroom and Peter softly smiled at him. Seamus walked closer when something vibrated against his hip and he removed the pager from his pocket. Mark felt something vibrating against his hip and removed his pager as well and they looked at the screen.

"Shit, we have to go," Mark said as Jessie nodded then Mark looked at Peter and blinked his eyes. "Want to come with us?"

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Well, it seems there's another body," Mark said while something vibrated against Jessie's hip and she removed the pager, looking at the screen.

"Is it at the Garden?" she asked and Mark nodded his head. "Then I guess I'm coming as well."

"Then let's go," Seamus said as he half ran to the doors and Jessie placed the body back and closed the metal door. Cassandra looked at Peter, who was looking at the body with a puzzled look on his face, while Jessie and Mark walked to the doors then Mark turned, looking at Peter.

"Are you coming?" Mark asked when Peter looked at him, nodded his head and they left the room.

The blue and red lights blinked while the police cars and coroner car sat near the curb and police officers kept the crowds behind the barriers. The car pulled up to the curb behind the coroner car while Cassandra, Seamus, Mark and Peter got out of the car and walked to police officers. Mark and Seamus showed the police officers their identification then introduced Peter and Cassandra and the police officer nodded their heads, standing back for them to go under the barriers. Peter noticed that some of the female officers grinned at him as he walked by and he winked at them. Walking inside, he held Cassandra closer while they followed Mark and Seamus and they entered the main room. Stage crews were setting up equipment and stages while some of the other magicians and illusionists practiced their tricks and Cassandra looked around.

"Whoa," she whispered as Peter smiled and they headed for Jessie, who was kneeling on the ground near a body, and Seamus had stopped near one of the stages, watching the stage crew member setting up some of the gear. Cassandra softly giggled as they walked toward Jessie and Peter knelt down next to Jessie. Most of the body was missing while the legs were bent under the body and one of the arms was missing. Some of the organs were sticking out of the body and most of the face was missing as Peter looked at Jessie and she handed him a pair of rubber gloves.

"Where did they find the body?" Peter asked.

"It was found stuffed into that box over there," Jessie said as she pointed to the small, wooden box to the right and Peter stood up, walking to the small, wooden box. Mark had followed him as Peter looked at the small, wooden box and walked around the small, wooden box. Blood had dried into a deep, reddish brown stain as Peter knelt down and moved his hand over the reddish brown stain. The energy rippled under his hand as he looked up at Mark then stood up and wiggled his fingers.

"Well, whatever killed that guy has the same energy as the body at the morgue," Peter said as Mark looked at him with a blank look and Peter folded his arms over his chest. "And before you pin this one me just because I know about the energy, just think of this. If you do send me to jail, you'd never figure out who's doing it. For the record, it's not me!"

"Yeah, right," Mark said with a sarcastic tone as Peter arched an eyebrow then Peter walked back to Jessie, kneeling down next to her.

"Got any idea who this guy is?" Peter asked, looking at the body.

"Yeah, one of the security guards said he was Gordon Lester," Jessie said and Peter blinked his eyes a few times. He thought he knew the name as his brain clicked through a list of names when Jessie touched his hand and Peter smiled at her. "He was the head judge for all this."

"Oh, right, he is," Peter said with a nod of his head.

"Do you have a T.O.D.?" Mark asked as Jessie looked at the body and shook her head.

"I'll know more when I get him back to the morgue," Jessie said as she stood up along with Peter and Mark nodded, watching her take the rubber gloves off. She placed the rubber gloves in her pocket then placed the rubber gloves Peter had handed her in the pocket as well then turned and walked away. Giving Mark a smug look, Peter lifted his chin, flipped him off, turned and walked over to where Cassandra was standing. Growling, Mark walked to Seamus then pointed toward the exit as they walked away and Peter smiled while sliding his arms around Cassandra. Giving him a slightly amused look, Cassandra sighed and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

"You've got to stop pissing off the cops," she said as he looked at her then smiled and she softly smiled, shaking her head.

Shadows moved across the walls as something growled in the darkness and long talons scraped the wooden floor. Red eyes shimmered in the darkness as the red eyes scanned the room and chips of the floor curled under the long talons. The two ridged ears twitched at the sounds outside the windows and something snarled. The sound of footsteps came from the shadows as the red eyes glanced at the shadowed figure walking closer and the red eyes became tight slits. Being imprisoned in the silver circle only angered the creature as the growling filled the darkness and the shadowed figure walked closer, glaring at the creature.

"Silence!" the shadowed figure shouted when a blast of blue light from the shadowed figure's right hand hit the creature in the chest and the creature growled at the shadowed figure. Walking to the wooden table, the shadowed figure looked at the photographs of Henry Altman and Gordon Lester taped on the wall and the photographs had slashes cut in an X across them. There were six other photographs taped to the wall as the shadowed figure looked at Peter's photograph then growled, pounding on the wooden table. Turning, the shadowed figure stormed out of the room while the red eyes watched the shadowed figure and the slit the creature had for a mouth split as the creature softly laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The room was dark while Peter softly moaned from Cassandra's fingers stroking his nipple between her fingers and thumb and his heart thumped wildly in her ear. Walking her fingers down his chest, Cassandra looked up at Peter as he thought back to when they returned to the Hard Rock and saw that they had removed the rubble and replaced the banner. Another banner covered the holes in the wall and he had seen that the banner was the new one he had commissioned to include Cassandra, Cross and the young women and he softly smiled, placing his hands behind his head.

"And what are you so happy about?" she asked, nipping at his nipple and her teeth scraped the pebbled skin.

"Oh, just thinking about the banner. It turned out better than I thought," he said as she gently climbed up on top of him and he moved his fingers along her sides.

"Your hand is cupping my breast," she said as she kissed down his chest and Peter grinned, nodding his head.

"And Tamara's hand is cupping my cock," he said as Cassandra sucked his nipple and he arched his head back, rolling his eyes.

"I had some stern words with her about that!" she said as Peter made a little yelp after she nipped his right nipple then kissed down his chest, kneeling with her legs on either side of his thighs. Peter felt the cool numbness moving through his body while Cassandra kissed his stomach and stroked his balls with her left hand. Sitting on his legs, Cassandra stroked and massaged his balls as the cool numbness increased and his body shook slightly. His breath caught in his chest while she stroked the underside of his cock and his heart pounded in his ears.

"F-f-f-fuck!" Peter stuttered as Cassandra stroked his cock with her hands then stroked his crotch and smiled. Cassandra slid his hardened cock inside her as she tightened around it and moved against him. He moaned as she moved faster and harder and he balled his hands into fists, digging his nails into his palms. Sliding her hands up and down his sides, she moved faster and faster as the cool numbness turned into waves of pain and pleasure and his heart slammed in his head. Peter groaned, grabbing onto the headboard while Cassandra moved back just enough and a low groan filled the air. His climax roared through him as Peter moaned and his arms flopped onto the mattress. His heart thudded in his chest as Cassandra blew on his hot skin and Peter breathed hard and fast through his nose. Sliding his cock out of her, she got off of him then walked to the bathroom and turned the light on. Peter felt weak and tired as he closed his eyes and felt his heart slowing down. If he was dying then he was dying happy and his mind slowly drifted off into darkness while a smile crossed his lips.

Mark and Seamus walked down the hallway when Mark opened the door and Seamus sighed, rolling his eyes. Jessie stood near the metal table as she placed the remains of the lung onto the scale and she looked at the screen.

"Hey, Doc," Mark said as she looked up from Gordon Lester's body and brushed some of her hair out of her eyes with her forearm.

"Hey," she said with a nod of her head and Mark looked down at Gordon Lester's body.

"Did you figure out the T.O.D.?" Mark asked as she looked at the chart and nodded her head.

"T.O.D. was four thirty. I checked with the Garden and they all took a dinner break around four. There should have been no one in the building," Jessie said.

"Call and see if we can have a look at the security feed," Mark said as Seamus nodded, thankful for any excuse to leave. He half ran to the door then left as Mark looked at the body and titled his head to one side. "What's that?"

Jessie looked where Mark was pointing when she picked up a clamp off the metal tray and slid the metal clamp into the chest cavity. Carefully pulling the clamp out of the chest cavity, they looked at the crumbled piece of fabric covered in blood as Jessie placed the crumbled piece of fabric on the metal tray and gently smoothed the fabric on the metal tray. Most of the blood had darkened whatever was on the fabric as Jessie used the clamp to pick up the fabric and they walked to the counter. Placing the fabric in a glass bowl filled with water, she swirled the piece of fabric around a few time until the water turned red then she removed the piece of fabric and Mark opened the towel that was sitting on the counter. Spreading out the piece of the fabric, they looked at what was printed on the piece of fabric and Mark frowned.

"What the hell is that?" he asked as Jessie took out a magnifying glass from the drawer and looked at the piece of fabric.

"If I didn't know better, I would say that's a navel," she said with a grin and Mark frowned.

"Why would someone….," he said then remembered the tattered banner outside the Hard Rock and blinked his eyes a few times. "It can't be."

"What?" she asked. Before Mark could say anything, Seamus walked back in the room and walked toward them.

"The Garden is sending the security footage to the precinct and the Hard Rock sent their security footage," he said as Mark nodded and looked at the piece of fabric.

"Can I have that?" he asked and Jessie nodded, placing the piece of fabric in a plastic bag. She watched them leaving when she shrugged then sighed and walked to the metal table.

"Peter?" Cassandra said with a sing song tone in her voice as he opened his eyes and she was patting his chest dry with a towel. He had fallen asleep by the time she had come back from the bathroom and she had been washing him.

"'m awake," he said with a sleepy tone to his voice as she smiled and placed the towel on the floor. Crawling onto the bed, she snuggled under the bedding with him then turned the lights off and placed her head on the center of his chest.

"Did I tire you out?" she teased as his heart thumped slow and steady in her ear and he yawned, rubbing his face with his hands. "I will take that for a yes."

"Shit, you are going to kill me one of these days," he sighed and Cassandra pouted, stroking her fingers against his side.

"Don't say things like that," she whispered and he gave her a confused look.

"I was teasing," he said and kissed the top of her head.

"I know, but I don't like the idea of you not being here," she said softly and he looked at the ceiling.

"Well, I don't go off looking for weird shit, you know. It just seems to find me," he said as she gently smacked his chest and he pouted. "Why did you do that for?"

"Are you calling me weird shit?" she asked as he arched his eyebrows up and smiled.

"No," he said when the telephone rang and he sighed, rolling his eyes. Cassandra rolled off of him when she turned the light on and sat up, picking the receiver up.

"Hello?" she asked and Peter snuggled closer, placing his arm across her waist.

"May I talk to Mister Vincent?" Mark asked as she looked at Peter and handed him the receiver. Sitting up, Peter lightly coughed as he sat against the headboard and slid an arm around her, pulling her into him.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Peter asked, stroking his fingers up and down Cassandra's arm.

"Sorry to wake you, but I need a favor," Mark said and Peter sighed, thumping his feet together.

"Look, I told you everything I know. You want more than talk to…"

"I need you to send me a photo of your navel," Mark interrupted and Peter's eyes went wide.

"You want a photo of my what?" he asked as Cassandra looked at him and he shrugged.

"We found this piece of fabric inside the body we found at the Garden and there was something printed on it. Jessie was able to wash the blood off and whatever it is looks like a navel. I thought about your banner and think that it's your navel. So, can you take a photo of it and text it to me?" Mark asked and Peter snorted a laugh.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me! You want a picture of my navel?" he asked and Cassandra widened her eyes.

"Yes, look, just do it," Mark said then told him the text number and ended the call. Peter handed Cassandra the receiver as she placed the receiver back on the cradle of the telephone and Peter looked at the ceiling.

"He wants a photo of your navel?" she asked and he nodded. After telling her what Mark said, Peter watched her as Cassandra got off the bed and she walked to the dresser, picking up her cell phone. She had sent some strange text in her time, but sending a photo of Peter's navel was the strangest. Peter was lying on his back as Cassandra aimed the cell phone at his stomach and used the photo application to take a photo of his navel. She gently smacked his stomach when he suggested also sending a picture of his cock and he smiled a bad boy smile at her. Rolling her eyes, she walked back to the dresser when she placed the cell phone down and walked backed to the bed. Crawling on the bed then sliding under the bedding, Cassandra snuggled next to him as Peter turned the light off and she placed her hand on his chest. His chest rose and fell as he kissed the top of her head then she placed her head on his shoulder and they closed their eyes, drifting off to sleep.

The cell phone beeped as Mark pushed the button and the photo of Peter's navel appeared on the screen. He transferred the photo to his computer as the photo appeared on the screen and he looked at it. He had taken a photo of the image on the piece of fabric as he looked at the two photos side by side and frowned.

"Get something?" Seamus asked as he leaned over the top of the chair and looked at the screen.

"Does that look the same to you?" Mark asked, pointing to the screen.

"I guess they do," Seamus said and Mark sighed, rubbing his eyes with his finger and thumb. "Anyway, want to look at the Hard Rock footage?"

"Yeah," Mark said with a nod of his head and Seamus typed on the keyboard. Waiting a few seconds, they watched as the footage appeared on the screen and they looked at the time code at the bottom of the screen. Nothing happened until two in the morning when a black shadow appeared then seemed to leap into the air and they looked at each other. "Replay that."

Seamus replayed the footage when Mark asked him to slow the footage down and the shadow slowly walked into view. Mark used the pause to stop the footage as they looked at the screen and could just make out four, large arms and an inhuman looking head.

"What the hell is that?" Mark asked.

"I don't know," Seamus said as they watched the rest of the footage then jumped as the banner and rubble fell to the pavement. Something jumped down then started tearing the banner into shreds and Mark hit the pause button again. Whatever it was looked toward the camera as their eyes went wide and the glowing eyes seemed to be shimmering.

"Again, what the hell is that?" Mark said as he placed his hands on either side of the monitor and his heart slammed inside his chest.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Madison Square Garden

People moved about while Peter led Cassandra and the young women toward the stage where they would be performing and Cross, sitting in the cage, gently cooed. Dressed in makeup, wig, sideburns, goatee and moustache, Peter adjusted the leather coat while he smiled at Cassandra and she leaned closer, kissing his cheek. Large screens dangled overhead as Peter looked up and saw the screen that was over his stage. The screens allowed the audience to watch the acts during the Showdown and he noticed the security guards stationed near all the exits.

"Guess they're not mucking around, seeing what happened to Gordon Lester," Cassandra whispered and Peter nodded his head. The young women walked up the stairs while Cassandra placed the cage on the ground and opened the cage. Cross hopped onto her forearm as she stood up and gently stroked Cross' chest. They had decided not to use Boe in the act, but she could sense the tiger's aura and thought she caught a blur of black and white moving behind the stage. Peter watched the stage hands while they set up the stage when a large pair of arms slid under his arms and lifted him off the floor.

"Peter!" Cassandra yelled while a man around six and a half feet tall held onto Peter and Peter's eyes went wide.

"He-hello, Wiktor," Peter gasped when Wiktor Graygankov placed Peter down and Peter turned, looking up at him. Wiktor had jet black hair that was cut nearly to his scalp and shining green eyes. His face looked like it had been craved from stone and his head rested on a large, muscular neck. Wiktor had a broad chest and wide shoulders and Cassandra thought he looked like a linebacker or, and she chuckled, a large bear.

"Hello, Peter," Wiktor said with a Russian accent and they shook hands. "Why are you here? I thought you never do Showdown again."

"Well, I sort of got blackmailed into it," Peter said then explained how the Hard Rock was going to fire him if he didn't show up and the growling coming from Wiktor sounded almost bear like.

"Hmph, well, you come with me," Wiktor said as he slid his arms under Peter's arms and lifted him off the floor.

"Hey, put him down!" Cassandra said as she stormed over to them and Peter softly laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Who is Little One?" Wiktor asked as he placed Peter down, looked down at her and Cassandra placed her hand on her hip while Cross growled at him.

"That's my girlfriend," Peter said.

"Where is Ginger?"

"She died, Mate," Peter sighed then grunted when Wiktor hugged him then put him down, patting Peter's shoulder.

"I am Wiktor Graygankov," Wiktor said while holding out his large hand and Cassandra smiled, taking his hand in hers.

"I'm Cassandra Lake," she said as they shook hands when four figures came closer and one of the figures was in a wheelchair. Turning, Wiktor smiled when he placed his hand on Peter's shoulder and Peter winced.

The first figure was a tall man with long blonde hair tied back with a black cord and his blue-green eyes sparkled in the light. His face was long, but handsome and he had the start of a moustache growing above his upper lip. Cassandra noticed how his jeans hugged his thin hips and he softly smiled at her. The second figure was a few inches taller than the first figure and he had jet black, wavy hair, dark eyes that almost look black and olive skin. His round face was neatly framed by his hair and he had dimples when he smiled. Both were wearing jeans and brown leather boots and the first man's t-shirt was black with an anarchy symbol on the front. The other man was wearing a blue denim shirt and the top three buttons were open, exposing the dark hair on his chest. The third man was sitting in a wheelchair as he looked up at her with green eyes and his blonde hair was cut close to his skull. He had a long, handsome face, but what stunned Cassandra was the fact that his legs had been amputated at the knees and his jeans were tucked under his legs. He was also wearing a white t-shirt with a dragon on the front and a denim jacket and a baseball cap was sitting on his lap. The teenage girl standing next to him had long blonde hair and green eyes and she was wearing jeans, sneakers, a denim jacket and a red t-shirt with Lady Gaga written on the front.

"Well, lookie who's here," Anthony Torelli said as Peter smiled at him and shook hands.

"Never thought you'd have the balls to come back," Zoltar Casmiri said and Peter softly shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey, Uncle Peter!" Stephanie Collins said as she hugged Peter and he looked down at her father, Frank, and Frank crossed his arms over his chest. Peter wasn't really Stephanie's uncle, but he had helped Frank train her over the years and Peter walked closer, kneeling down next to the wheelchair.

"What the hell happened to you?" Peter asked.

"Dad was in a car wreck three years ago," Stephanie said while Frank sighed and Peter stood up, placing a hand on Frank's shoulder.

"It was a drunk driver," Frank said softly and Peter nodded his head then looked at the others.

"Ok, I know I've been like a ghost these last few years, but shit happens and…" Peter said then grunted when Wiktor smacked him gently on the back and Peter smiled, rolling his eyes.

"No need explaining. We are all together again. That is good thing, da?" Wiktor asked with a grin and Cassandra slid her arms around Peter's arm. "Now we go have drink and get to know Little One."

"Sounds like a plan," Peter said when he saw Mark and Seamus walking toward them and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Who are those assholes?" Anthony asked when Mark and Seamus stopped near Peter and Peter folded the leather coat back, placing his hands on his hips.

"Detectives," Peter said with a nod of his head and Mark gave him a blank look.

"We need to talk," Mark said.

"I can't right now. Call my agent and make an appointment," Peter said as he turned his back on Mark and Mark balled his hands into fists.

"Look, we could do this easy or…" Mark said when Wiktor came between him and Peter and Peter turned around, looking at Wiktor's back.

"He said he doesn't want to talk to you right now. Be a good, little man and go," Wiktor said as he pointed toward the exit and Cassandra covered her mouth as she tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, get out of here," Anthony said as he walked closer and stood next to Wiktor.

"I could arrest the lot of you for obstruction of justice," Mark said as Peter pressed his lips together to prevent him from laughing then he sighed, walked around Wiktor and looked at Mark.

"There's no need for threats. If you need to talk with me then let's go," Peter said as he pointed with his hands toward the exit and Mark turned, heading for the exit. Seamus ran to catch up with him while Peter turned to the others, took Cassandra's hand, did a little bow and softly laughed as the others applauded while they walked away.

The doors to the squad room opened while Mark and Seamus led Peter and Cassandra toward the desks and Peter looked at the dry board. Walking closer, he looked at the flyer, the photos of Henry Altman and Gordon Lester, the scrape of material from his banner and the photo of his navel while Seamus walked closer and stood next to him.

"So, is that your navel or not?" Seamus asked as Peter looked at the photo of his navel then looked at the scrap of material from his banner and moved his head side to side.

"Yeah, it is," Peter said with a nod of his head then turned and looked at Mark, who was sitting at the desk, and Cassandra was sitting on the chair next to the desk. Cassandra had left Cross with the young women as she looked at Peter and Peter walked to the desk, leaning on the back of the chair. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I need you to look at something," Mark said when Peter moved another chair to the desk then sat down and looked at the screen, Mark typed on the keyboard when the security video appeared and Peter leaned his lower arms on the desk.

"What am I looking at?" Peter said when the shadow appeared on the screen and his eyes widened. "Whoa, back that up."

Mark backed the video back to where the shadow first appeared then hit the pause button and Peter looked at the screen.

"Ok, giving the size of the shadow, I can say that whatever that is has to be around nine feet tall. And, if you look at the thickness of the sides of the shadow, I would guess that it has four arms," Peter said as he pointed to the shadowy figure with a pen he took off the desk and Mark nodded his head. Mark hit the pause button again as the video started and Peter jumped when the shadowy figure jumped out of frame. He watched the rubble and the banner fall to the pavement as Mark hit the pause button and Peter titled his head to one side. "Yep, it's a big one. The question now is what exactly is it? That isn't a vampire. They don't come that big."

"Do their eyes glow?" Seamus asked as Peter looked back at him.

"Yeah, sometimes they do," Peter said as Mark restarted the video and Peter went wide eyed when the shadowy figure looked toward the camera and the eyes were glowing. "Shit."

"Do you know what it is?" Mark asked.

"Nope," Peter said then looked at Seamus and sighed. "Did you get the footage from the Garden?"

"Yeah, but we haven't looked at it yet," Seamus said. Walking to the desk, Seamus reached over Mark when he typed on the keyboard then opened another window and the security video from the Garden appeared on the screen. Cassandra had gotten up then walked to Peter and he held his arms out. Sitting on his lap, Cassandra wiggling against him as his cock vibrated through his leather pants and he gave her a stunned look. He then gave her a "not now" look as she softly giggled and Mark sighed, rolling his eyes. Seamus' face turned beet red as he softly coughed then looked at the screen and Peter winked at him. "Now, as you can see, people broke for a lunch break and Gordon Lester is the only one still there."

"Not exactly," Peter said as he pointed to the screen and Mark hit the pause button. "See that shadow over there?"

They looked at where Peter was pointing while Seamus typed on the keyboard and the video changed to show a closer look of the shadowy figure standing near one of the stages.

"Rewind the video back to just before the shadow appears then frame by frame," Peter said while Seamus nodded and they looked at the screen. The shadowy figure seemed to vanish then reappeared and Peter held his finger up. "Hold it there. Did you see it rise out of the ground?"

"Yeah, it looked like it was coming out of the ground," Cassandra said.

"Now go forward," Peter said when the shadowy figure jumped into the air then landed on top of Gordon Lester and Seamus closed his eyes while the shadowy figure attacked. Peter moved his head closer to the screen to get a better look, but the shadowy figure kept its back to the camera and Peter sat back on the chair, sighing. "Well, that was messy."

"But what is that thing?" Mark asked when Peter noticed something and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Replay that last part," Peter said, ignoring Mark, and Seamus typed on the keyboard. "Hold it there! Do you see where it's standing?"

"It looks like where you were standing when you felt that weird power surge," Cassandra said and he smiled at her.

"Gold star for you," he said as she rolled her eyes and smiled. "That is where whatever it was left. That is why no one saw it coming or going. It uses teleportation."

"You mean like Star Trek?" Mark asked and Peter glared at him.

"No, I'm not talking "Beam me up, Scotty!". I am talking opening a portal and going from one place to another," Peter said as he looked at the screen and sighed, sitting back in the chair. "The question now is what is it and why did it kill them?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"No, the question is what is your connection to all this? How do we know that you didn't create that thing?" Mark demanded as Cassandra growled at him and Peter wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm good, but not that fucking good," Peter said then turned the chair around to look at the dry board and looked at the photos of Henry Altman and Gordon Lester. "Have you contacted Altman's law firm and get a client list?"

"We just got the warrant this morning and they're sending the list over later this afternoon," Seamus said as Peter turned the chair around and looked at him.

"And we asked for a list of performers at the Showdown," Mark said and Peter nodded his head. Suddenly the phone rang as Mark picked up the receiver and turned the chair around. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Jessie," Jessie's voice said and Mark could hear that she was upset about something.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked then wrote on a piece of paper that it was Jessie on the phone and Jessie softly sighed in his ear.

"We have another body," she said and Mark sat up straight in the chair.

"Where are you?" Mark asked then started writing down the address on the piece of paper and told her they would be there in a few minutes. Placing the receiver back on the cradle of the telephone, Mark got up as they watched him then he placed his hands on the top of the desk and locked eyes with Peter. "There's been another killing."

"And you're looking at me like that because….?" Peter asked.

"Just move," Mark said as they got up and headed for the doors to the squad room.

The blue car came to a stop behind the coroner car when the doors opened and Mark, Seamus, Peter and Cassandra got out of the car. Walking toward the police officers, Mark and Seamus showed the police officers their identification and introduced Peter and Cassandra. The police officers eyed Peter suspiciously as he arched his eyebrow then followed after Mark and Seamus and they headed up the stairs of the four story manor house. The large, oak doors had lion head door knockers and the door on the right opened as a man with snow white hair and gray eyes and dressed in a mourning suit stood in the doorway. Mark and Seamus showed the man their identification as he slowly nodded his head and stood back, allowing them to come inside.

"This is nice," Peter said while looking around the elegantly decorated hallway and looked up at the crystal chandeliers that were hanging from the ceiling.

"Come on," Mark sighed as they walked along and Peter swung Cassandra's hand back and forth. Stopping near the large, oak doors at the end of the hallway, Mark looked inside the room when Jessie walked closer and looked at Seamus.

"I don't think you should come in here. There's blood everywhere," she said as Seamus nodded his head and Jessie held out several pair of plastic shoe covers and rubber gloves. "Put these on."

A few minutes later they walked inside the room and Peter felt the bile rising up in his throat. Blood was splattered on the walls and paintings and an arm and a leg were dangling from the chandelier. The carpeting made a squishing sound as they walked toward where the body was lying when Peter felt something near his left foot and looked down at the carpeting.

"Hello," Peter said when he knelt down on his haunches and placed his hand out. The surge of energy fluttered under his hand as he titled his head to one side and blinked his eyes a few times. "Ok, this is either the entrance or the exit point."

"What are you talking about?" Jessie asked as she walked closer and knelt down on her haunches next to him.

"Mister Magic thinks that whatever did this can teleport in and out of places. That's why no one sees anything," Mark said as they stood up and Peter folded his arms over his chest.

"I'm just trying to help," Peter snarled then looked up at the cameras on the wall and blinked his eyes a few times. "Looks like he tapes whoever comes in here."

"Who was the victim?" Cassandra asked and Jessie looked at her, forgetting she was in the room.\

"According to the wife, he was Doctor Andrew Bennett," Jessie said. "He's one of Manhattan's finest when it comes to plastic surgery."

"Well, he's going to need more than a little nip and tuck after all this," Peter said with a grin and Cassandra gently smacked his chest. "And before you say anything, might you get a hold of his client list and see if there's a connection between him and the other two victims? I'm only asking because I have never heard of this guy nor have I met him. Also see if you can't get a copy of the security video."

"Get the feeling he's doing your job?" Jessie teased as Mark growled and left the room. Jessie and Cassandra watched while Peter walked around the room, winced at the body then felt something near the body and knelt down on his haunches. Moving his hand over the body, Peter sighed then stood up and frowned, folding his arms over his chest.

"Well, the body's generating energy like the others," Peter said when Mark walked back into the room and headed toward them. "Did you get the security video?"

"No, she said she doesn't know where he keeps the videos from the security cameras. In fact, she said she didn't even know he had cameras in here," Mark said while Cassandra looked around the room, smiled, raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Books fell to the floor while doors to the cabinets in the room and the doors hidden in the walls opened and Peter pointed with his hands toward her with a smile on his face. Growling, Mark walked to the cabinet near the large, French doors when he pushed the buttons on the video recorder and removed the video disc.

"I'll let you know what I find after I get him to the morgue," Jessie said as Mark nodded his head, but she was looking at Peter and Peter softly smiled at her.

"I think you better call him instead," Peter teased and Jessie blushed, nodding her head. Taking Cassandra's hand, Peter turned as he left the room, peeled the plastic boots off his boots then off of Cassandra's shoes, placed the plastic boots and rubber gloves on the floor and headed down the hallway.

"So what did those assholes want?" Anthony asked after Peter and Cassandra returned to the Garden and Peter sighed, brushing the leather coat back and placed his hands on his hips.

"Some idiot tore my promotional banner into a pile of shit and they wanted to know if I knew anything about it," Peter said while Cassandra walked to the stage and checked on Cross.

"Why would someone do that?" Zoltar asked.

"Who did you piss off this time?" Frank asked and Stephanie softly laughed.

"I don't know and I haven't pissed off anyone," Peter said with wide eyes and Stephanie laughed harder.

"Ah, then it is nothing to worry over. Come, we go eat and drink!" Wiktor said as he gently whacked Peter on the back and Peter coughed.

"I think that sounds like a good idea," Cassandra said as she walked closer and held the cage in her hand.

"What is that?" Stephanie asked as she walked closer and knelt down on her haunches. Cross looked at her as the falcon tilted its head to one side and Stephanie softly smiled at Cross.

"He's a peregrine falcon," Cassandra said. Carefully reaching into the cage, she stroked the top of the falcon's head and Cross softly purred.

"Come on," Peter said while rolling his eyes then slid his arm around Cassandra's waist and they headed for the exit.

Looking up at the ceiling, Peter was lying on his back while Cassandra stroked his side and he placed his hands behind his head. They had left Wiktor, Anthony, Zoltar, Frank and Stephanie at a bar that was open all night around two in the morning and Peter rubbed his eyes with his fingers and thumb. His skin tingled while Cassandra stroked his side and Peter breathed in deeply then slowly breathed out through his nose. Cassandra slid her hand along his chest while her fingers moved through his soft chest hair and down his flat stomach. He closed his eyes as her finger moved around the rim of his belly button and along his appendix scar. Cassandra softly kissed his chest when her lips moved over his left nipple and she softly suckled on his nipple. Her tongue swirled around the pebbled skin as he moaned and arched his head back. Cassandra carefully crawled on top of him when she kissed his lips and slid her hands under his shoulders. Cassandra tapped the tip of her tongue against his lips when he parted his lips and her tongue slid between his lips. Peter moaned in her mouth as he slid his arms up and down her back and Cassandra slid her body against his body.

"Tell me," he said after they parted and she looked deeply into his eyes.

"Tell you what?" she asked, rubbing her body against him.

"Tell me that you love me," he said as she kissed down his neck then along his collar bone and he moaned.

"I love you," she whispered over and over while kissing down his chest and twisted his nipples between her fingers and thumbs. Little white lights flickered in his eyes as Peter moaned and balled his hands on the mattress. Cassandra slid her hands up and down his arms when she sat up, picked up his left wrist and kissed his palm then licked his wrist, feeling the quick pulse beating against her tongue. Peter moaned while she kissed his stomach and reached up, stroking his nipples with her fingers. Sighing, Peter covered his eyes with his hands while Cassandra knelt over him and kissed down to the soft hair over his balls. Reaching down with her left hand, she stroked his balls while stroking his nipple with her right hand and Peter shivered.

"Oh, fuck, that feels amazing," he sighed as she stroked his thin hips, along his pelvis and crotch and a cool tingling feeling traveled up his body. Smiling, Cassandra sat on his legs when she slid her hands under his hardening cock and stroked the underside, feeling his cock growing harder. Gently tugging on his cock, Cassandra looked at Peter while he held himself up on shaking arms and his pupils were wide. His eyes looked black as he widened his eyes and moaned, arching his head back. "Stop teasing me!"

Straddling his hips, Cassandra slid his hard cock inside her as she grabbed hold of his thin hips and started moving back and forth while pressing around his cock. Peter locked eyes with her as she moved faster and harder and the cool tingling roared up and down his body. His cock throbbed while she tightened around his cock and rocked faster and harder. Sliding back down onto the bed, Peter felt his heart slamming in his chest and breathed hard and fast through his nose. His body felt on fire when his climax began to rise and he arched his hips up a bit.

"Fuck!" Peter shouted as he climaxed and covered his eyes with his hands. His heart slammed against his ribs as a cool tingle moved over his skin when Cassandra blew on his hot skin and he softly moaned. Sliding off of him, Cassandra got off the bed when she headed for the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Peter placed his hands on his chest as he breathed softly through his nose and half closed his eyes. He didn't want to fall asleep as he thought about what life could be like with Cassandra and a smile nearly cut his face in half. "Yep, I could see it. It wouldn't be a bad thing, Old Mate, me sharing a life with her."

Peter jumped when the telephone rang as he could barely sit up and reached over, picking up the receiver. Cassandra walked out of the bathroom with a semi-wet flannel and a towel as she walked to the bed and sat down next to him.

"Hello?" Peter asked as he shrugged his shoulders and Cassandra placed the towel on her lap.

"Did I wake you?" Mark asked and Peter rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm fucking talking in my sleep! What do you…WANT?" Peter said as his voice went up an octave after Cassandra started washing him off and she smiled at him.

"I've been trying to get you all night. Jessie called. She said she has something she thinks you need to see."

"Fine, I'll go see her later. Right n-n-now I want to g-g-g-go back to SLEEP!" Peter said while Cassandra washed him off then patted his cock with the towel and Peter smiled, rolling his eyes.

"Are you ok?" Mark said as Peter placed the receiver on the cradle of the telephone and Cassandra placed the towel and flannel on the floor. Turning off the lights, Peter felt her crawling onto the bed then under the bedding when she snuggled closer and he slid his arms around her. Placing her head on the center of his chest, Cassandra listened to the soft sound of his heart beating as they closed their eyes and a few minutes later they had drifted off to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

The doors opened as Seamus, Cassandra, Mark and Peter walked into the room and Jessie was standing next to the metal table.

"Hey, Doc," Mark said while they walked toward the metal table and Jessie slightly smiled at Peter.

"Did you find something?" Peter asked as she nodded and moved the sheet covering the body on the metal table. Peter noticed that Doctor Bennett's body had been sewn shut and his leg and arm had been reattached as Jessie removed the metal pointer from her pocket.

"As you can see, the wound patterns are the same as the other two victims, but it was what I found in chest cavity that is why I wanted to see you," Jessie said while pointing the metal pointer at Peter and Peter nodded his head.

"And that is?" Peter asked as he placed his hands behind his back and slightly leaned forward. Jessie wiggled a finger at him as they walked to the counter and Peter saw something lying in a glass container. Walking closer, Peter and Mark stood next to Jessie when Peter looked down and saw what looked like fur lying in the water bath. Placing the metal pointer into her pocket, Jessie picked up a clamp when she used the clamp to pick up what was in the glass container and placed whatever it was on the towel sitting on the counter. Handing Peter a pair of rubber gloves, she spread out whatever it was on the towel and Peter placed the rubber gloves on.

"It looks like a drown cat," Mark said as Peter looked down at what was on the towel and slid a finger under the wet hair, lifting whatever it was off the towel. Looking at the wet hair, Peter spread out the hair when his eyes widened and Jessie gave him a confused look.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"Yeah, this is one of mine," Peter said softly.

"What do you mean it's one of yours?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"Do you really think this is my real hair?" Peter asked with a slight smile on his face then placed the wet wig back on the towel. Jessie watched while Peter removed the wig, sideburns, moustache, goatee and eyebrow ring and placed everything on the counter. Ruffling his hair with his fingers, Peter smiled at her and Jessie softly smiled back.

"No offense, but I like you without all that," Jessie said and Peter softly laughed.

"Let me get this straight. This is one of your wigs" Mark asked while Peter turned to look at him and rolled his eyes.

"Before you say anything, I didn't do this!" Peter said as he folded his arms over his chest and glared at Mark.

"But that's your wig!"

"It's one of my old ones! You can tell because this one is shorter than the one I wear now!" Peter said, placing the wigs side by side. The wet wig was a few inches shorter than the dry wig and Peter placed his hands on the counter. "See?"

"Where did you find this?" Cassandra asked.

"It was in the chest cavity. At first I thought someone shoved a cat into his chest," Jessie said and Peter softly laughed.

"What I don't get is why is someone placing things like my flyer, a piece of my banner and one of my old wigs into the victims' bodies?" Peter asked and felt Mark glaring at him.

"Why are you?" Mark asked.

"Fuck off," Peter snarled then looked at the wet wig and blinked his eyes a few times. Moving his hand over the wet wig, he could barely feel energy coming off the wet wig then moved to the metal table and looked at the body. Moving his hand over the body, he felt more of the energy coming off the body and flexed his fingers. "What the hell is this thing?"

"You tell me," Mark said as he walked to the metal table and Peter turned, locking eyes with him.

"Just so we're clear. I…DON'T…KNOW!" Peter said while making his mouth wide with each word and his eyes slightly bugged out. Sighing, he turned to look back at Jessie and she was handing Cassandra the dry wig, the moustache, sideburns, the eyebrow ring and the goatee then placed the wet wig in a plastic bag. "Is there anything else you wanted to show me?"

"No, that was it," Jessie said as he nodded and headed for the door. Seamus was standing next to the door when he stepped out of Peter's way and Peter left the room. He opened the door as he wiggled a finger at Cassandra and she smiled, shrugged her shoulders and went to catch up with him.

"Meet you back at the precinct! I want to see the security video you got from the doctor's house!" Peter's voice said as the doors closed and a low growl came from Mark's throat.

Jessie watched while Mark balled his hands into fists and he and Seamus left the room, the doors slamming into the walls as they left. Sighing with a hint of a smile on her face, Jessie walked back to the metal table when she picking up the chart and went back to work.

The doors to the squad room opened when Peter and Cassandra walked inside and Mark and Seamus followed them while Peter walked to the dry board. After he had placed the wig, moustache, sideburns, goatee and eyebrow ring back on, Peter stood in front of the dry board and titled his head to one side. Looking at the flyer, the piece of fabric and the photos of Henry Altman and Gordon Lester, Peter placed his hands behind his back and sighed as he tried to figure out what was going on. He noticed that there was now a photo of Andrew Bennett and removed the plastic bag from the pocket of his leather coat. Walking to the desk, he picked up a pen then walked to the dry board and opened the plastic bag, removing the wig with the pen. Looking around, he found some tape as he used the tape to secure the wig to the dry board then stood back, folding his arms over his chest as he looked at the dry board.

"Right, so we have three victims and the only thing that connects them to each other is…me," Peter sighed as he started seeing why Mark was suspecting him of the killings, but he had never met Henry Altman or Andrew Bennett.

"So you do admit that you're controlling that thing," Mark said softly as he walked closer and stood next to Peter.

"No, I'm just saying that the only connection to these three killing is me. Someone is either trying to send me a message or is framing me. It is true that I do tend to piss people off, but this is more than being pissed off at me. Someone's really out to get me," Peter said then turned and looked at Seamus sitting at the desk. "Do you have the video from the doctor's house?"

"Yes, and we also have the client list from the lawyer and the list of those participating at the Showdown. Still waiting on the list of the doctor's patients," Seamus said as Peter nodded and walked to the desk, sitting down on the chair. Peter looked at the screen while Seamus typed on the keyboard when the screen went blank then the security video started. Peter watched the video as Andrew Bennett went about his daily business when Peter saw something appearing in the corner and Seamus showed him which button pause the video. "Check this out."

Mark and Cassandra walked to the desk when Mark leaned over the back of the chair and looked at the screen. Peter pushed the pause button as a large, black shadow appeared in the corner of the room then took form of something inhuman and Mark's eyes widened. The creature stood ten feet in height and the creature slowly moved toward Doctor Bennett.

On the sides of the head of the creature were two ridged ears that came to a point at the top and the ear on the right had a nick taken out of it. Several boney lumps went from the top to the bottom of the creature's head and boney ridges covered the two, bulging eyes. The nose was pushed up and the creature opened its mouth, showing three rows of sharp teeth. A thick neck rested on a muscular torso and a stub of a tail sat above the perfectly shaped bottom. Four, muscular arms stuck out of the torso and the large hands had four fingers and a thumb with long talons curved toward the palm of each hand and the hands were bent almost into fists. Two muscular legs held up the creature and the creature was standing on the balls of its two feet. Sharp talons bent in on the four toes on each foot and what appeared to be bone covered the creature's genitals.

"Shit," Peter sighed as he sat back in the chair and folded his arms over his chest. "We're not dealing with vampires. We're dealing with demons."

"And that's a demon?" Seamus asked, looking at the screen.

"Yep," Peter said while popping the "p" and titled his head to one side. "What sort of demon, I don't know. If I had my demoncrom, I could look it up,"

They looked at the screen when the creature charged at Doctor Bennett and before Doctor Bennett could scream, the creature dived on him. Seamus closed his eyes as the others watched the creature tearing Doctor Bennett apart and Peter tapped Seamus on the shoulder.

"You can look now," Peter said and a blush turned Seamus' face bright red. Mark had turned the video off as Seamus opened his eyes and Peter nudged him with his elbow. Shrugging, Seamus got up as he walked to where the coffee machine was and Peter sighed, blinking his eyes a few times.

"What is a demoncrom?" Mark asked when Seamus walked back with two mugs of coffee and handed one of the coffee mugs to Cassandra then other coffee mug to Peter and Peter sipped on the coffee.

"It is my book of demons. The thing is it's back at my place in Vegas," Peter said as Seamus came back with two more mugs of coffee and sat on the chair next to him.

"So there's no way you can tell us what that thing was?" Seamus asked, sipping on the coffee. Suddenly the squad room was a buzz when Peter looked at the police officers pointing their guns at something behind him and turned the chair around. Boe was standing near the dry board as Peter smiled, patted his leg and the tiger slowly walked to him, sitting down next to the chair.

"Put your guns down. He's harmless," Peter said while stroking the top of the tiger's head and Mark gave him a slightly stunned look.

"Ok, where did that come from?" Seamus asked as Boe sniffed his leg and Seamus slowly moved his hand toward the tiger's head. Peter nodded as Seamus stroked the soft fur and Boe softly purred.

"If I told you, he'd put me in a cell," Peter said while pointing his thumb toward Mark and Mark glared at him. Peter gently turned Boe's head toward him then placed his hands on either side of the tiger's head and Peter softly smiled. "Ok, I need you to go to the library and bring me the red book on the middle table. Understand?"

Boe sneezed while nodding its head as they watched the tiger walking away then vanished and Mark's eyes went wide. Peter sighed as he sat back in the chair and folded his arms over his chest.

"You summoned that thing, didn't you?" Mark asked while balling his hands into fists and Peter arched his eyebrow, slightly smiling at him.

"No, I didn't summon Boe. Boe comes and goes as he pleases," Peter said when something poked Seamus in the back and Seamus turned, seeing Boe behind him. In the tiger's mouth was a book with a red cover and the tiger moved by him and placed the book on Peter's lap. Patting the top of the tiger's head, Peter sat up straighter in the chair and opened the book. "Now, let's find out what the hell that thing was."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Peter looked through the pages when he widened his eyes and placed the book on the desk. On the page was a drawing of the creature from the video and a cold chill rolled down Peter's back.

"Ok, so it's in the book. What is it?" Mark asked.

"It is D'yar'nath, the High Lord of the eighth level of Hell," Peter said and Mark and Seamus gave him a stunned look.

"You're making that up," Mark said and Peter glared at him.

"I wish I was," Peter sighed and looked at the drawing. "The first images of D'yar'nath surfaced in carvings in sixteen ninety-four France and those carving were burned after reports of demonic voices coming from the carvings. The last reported sighting of D'yar'nath was in eighteen twenty-three in Athens. Some low level magicians had found one of the lairs of D'yar'nath and cornered D'yar'nath after D'yar'nath had been weakened in battle with some other demons. Taking D'yar'nath by surprise, they performed a spell that is rumored to have turned D'yar'nath into stone," Peter said as he skimmed through the pages then closed the book, placing his hand on top of the book.

"And you're saying that someone found this D'yar'nath and freed it?" Mark asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but a demon of D'yar'nath's level isn't one that's going to be someone's tool for long. In fact, I'm willing to bet that D'yar'nath is this close to getting pissed off and might just bugger off," Peter said while holding his finger about an inch apart and his eyes widened.

"What would D'yar'nath do once it buggers off?" Seamus asked.

"Hopefully D'yar'nath would just go back to his realm, but, considering all the fun he's been having, I wouldn't count on it," Peter sighed and folded his arms over his chest.

"What do we do now?" Cassandra asked.

"We are going back to the Garden and let these two get back to work," Peter said as he got up and held his hand out. Taking his hand, Cassandra stood up as they headed for the door when Peter looked at Seamus and wiggled his finger at him. Seamus walked closer as Peter smiled and held his hand out. "Can I have your cell phone, please?"

Shrugging, Seamus handed Peter his cell phone as Peter looked at the screen then opened the phonebook application and typed on the keyboard. Hitting the save button, he handed Seamus the cell phone, turned, and left the room. Mark walked closer while Seamus looked at the screen and smiled, sliding the cell phone in his pocket.

"He gave you his cell number?" Mark asked with wide eyes and Seamus smiled, heading for the desk.

"Guess he liked me more than he likes you," Seamus said with a grin then sat down, going back to work.

Madison Square Garden

"People…..Hold it!" Peter said as he held his hands up and sighed, sitting on the throne prop. Placing his right leg over the arm of the throne prop, Peter pulled the on the crotch of his leather pants and sighed. Cassandra had noticed that he seemed distracted as she walked closer and knelt down next to the throne prop.

"Do you want to call it a day?" she asked while stroking the back of his hand and Peter softly smiled, shaking his head.

"I'm fine," he said with a grin then sat up and placed his forearms on his thighs.

"No, you're not fine," one of the young women said as the young women knelt down near the throne prop and he gave them a blank look.

"Is it that noticeable?" he asked and they nodded their heads. "Ok, I'm not fine."

"Then you shouldn't be doing this."

"Yeah, one mistake and…" one of the young women said and Peter nodded his head. Suddenly Anthony ran toward the stage when Peter stood up and Anthony stopped in front of the stage, placing his hands on his thighs. Panting, Anthony calmed down while Peter hopped off the stage and stood in front of him.

"What happened?" Peter asked as Anthony started pacing back and forth and scratched the back of his neck.

"Fuck," Anthony said over and over then looked at Peter and brushed his fingers through his hair. "It's a fucking mess."

"What is?" Peter asked, placing his hands on Anthony's shoulders.

"We couldn't find him. We looked everywhere, but we couldn't find," Anthony mutter and Peter gently shook him.

"Who are you talking about?" Peter half shouted and Anthony sighed, looking at their feet.

"I'm talking about Zoltar. He said he wanted to go take a shower, but he wasn't in his dressing room. We sent the security guards to look at him and….They found….Oh, fuck, I never saw so much blood in my life!" Anthony said as Peter widened his eyes and his face grew pale.

"Where is he?" Peter asked as his heart thudded in his ears and Anthony waved with his hand for him to follow him. Cassandra walked to Peter as she slid her arm around his waist and they went to catch up with Anthony.

The backstage hallway was busy with forensic officers and police officers trying to keep people back while Mark and Seamus walked closer and showed their identification to the police officers. Jessie was kneeling next to Zoltar's body while the overhead lights sparkled off the blood and she sat back on her knees, sighing.

"Hey, Doc," Mark said as she looked up at him then stood up and Seamus went to talk to one of the police officers. "Who's it this time?"

"The security guard said he's Zoltar Casmiri. He's one of the performers," Jessie said when Peter and Cassandra appeared and Jessie nodded to the police officer trying to stop Peter from coming closer.

"NO!" Peter shouted as he half ran to Jessie and looked down at Zoltar's body. Nearly most of Zoltar's body was torn open as some of his organs peeked out of the wounds and Jessie sighed, taking the rubber gloves off. She didn't have any blood on her as she wrapped her arms around him and Peter pinched his eyes closed with his fingers and thumb. Cassandra sighed while watching Jessie rubbing Peter's back and he moved back, sadly smiling at him. "When did this happen?"

"I don't know," Jessie said when Peter looked up and saw the CCTV camera. Looking over at Mark, Peter nodded his head toward the CCTV when Mark nodded his head and Mark and Seamus walked away. Peter then saw Anthony, Wiktor, Frank and Stephanie and some of the others when he let go of Jessie and walked toward them.

"Is true? Someone kill Zoltar?" Wiktor asked.

"Yeah, Mate, he's gone," Peter sighed when Stephanie ran to him and Peter held her, stroking her back.

"But why would someone want to kill him?" Frank asked while Anthony looked at the wall when he titled his head to one side and blinked his eyes a few times.

"What the hell is that?" Anthony asked as Peter let go of Stephanie when he walked to the wall and tapped one of the forensic officers on the back.

"Can I borrow your camera?" Peter asked as the forensic officer shrugged and handed Peter the digital camera. Peter walked to the wall when he looked through the viewfinder and took photos of the writing on the wall. The writing being done in blood didn't escape Peter when he sighed and handed the camera back to the forensic officer. "Send those to Detective Mark Baker's desk."

"Yes, Sir," the forensic officer said as Peter walked away and Cassandra slid her arm around Peter's waist while they headed down the hallway. Anthony, Wiktor, Frank and Stephanie followed after Peter and Cassandra and Peter sighed, balling his hand into a fist.

Looking at the glass in his hand, Peter slugged back the whiskey while watching Anthony chatting up on of the waitresses and Peter wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Mark had gotten hold of the security video from the Garden, but Peter didn't feel like watching the video and Seamus told him that he would call if they found out anything. Peter tapped the glass on the bar when a large hand clamped down on his shoulder and Peter looked up to see Wiktor looking down at him.

"No more Midori for you," WIktor said as Peter glared at him then tried to stand, only to feel his legs wiggling out from him. Sliding to the floor, Peter sighed as he placed the back of his head against the bar and Wiktor turned, looking at Cassandra. "Little One, Peter is pissed and needs to go home."

"Let me handle him," Cassandra said while walking closer and Wiktor slid his arms under Peter's arms, lifting him to his feet.

"Need me to call a cab, Miss?" the bar tender asked and Cassandra nodded her head. Peter was barely conscious as Cassandra led him to the booth near the door and slid him onto the seat. Sliding onto the seat, Cassandra wrapped her arm around him then pulled him to her and he placed his head on her shoulder.

"It's my fault," Peter said softly as she stroked his hair and felt her heart hurting.

"No, it's not," she said then kissed his hair and he half closed his eyes.

"Yeah, it is. Whoever's doing this is after me," Peter said while balling his hands on the table and his hands were shaking.

"Or they're trying to frame you. The question is why?" Cassandra said as she stroked his hair and tears rolled down Peter's cheeks, making tiny black lines as the tears fell. "Hey, come on, don't cry."

"I have every fucking reason to cry. One of my best friends has just been turned into dog shit!" he growled and she hushed him, looking at the people looking at them.

"Take a fucking picture! It'll last longer!" she shouted as Peter smiled and wiped his eyes, leaving dark streaks under his eyes. The bar tender came closer and told them the cab had arrived as they got up and the bar tender helped her lead Peter outside.

Jessie stood near the metal table while she slid her hand into the chest cavity of Zoltar's body when she felt something and gently slid her hand out. In her rubber gloved hand was a plastic bag and she walked to the counter, placing the plastic bag into the water in the container. In the container was some water as she rinsed the blood and tissue off the plastic bag and she placed the plastic bag on the towel. Drying the plastic bag with the towel, Jessie picked up the plastic bag when she saw the glint of something and opened the plastic bag. Removing what was inside the plastic bag onto the counter, Jessie looked at the side burns, moustache, goatee and a gold eyebrow ring and Jessie sighed, leaning against the counter.

"Oh shit," Jessie sighed then walked to the phone on the wall and picked up the receiver.

Peter softly sighed while Cassandra stroked her fingers along his chest and her head rested on his shoulder. She had called the Hard Rock and asked two of the young women help her get Peter to the penthouse without anyone seeing them and Peter had gotten sick several times from the cab to the lift. He got sick three more times after they had gotten him to the penthouse and he fell asleep the moment they got him under the bedding. She placed her hand on his chest as her hand rose and fell with his breathing and hitched a few times while he moaned.

"Sh, it's alright," she whispered as he softly smiled and she made tiny kisses on his chest. She watched him sleeping when Cross made little growling sounds and Boe appeared near the bed then carefully got on the bed, standing over them. Cassandra scanned the room with her eyes while Boe glared at something in the corner and she turned her head to look where Boe was staring. Suddenly a pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness as she looked at the red eyes and her heart slammed in her chest. The red eyes looked at her for what felt like forever then vanished and Boe slid down onto the bed, lying on their legs. Cassandra didn't feel the tiger's weight as Boe stared at the darkness and she moved closer to Peter, placing her head on the center of his chest. His heart thumped softly in her ear as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, wondering if she hadn't just caught a glimpse of D'yar'nath.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Manhattan, New York 2006

Peter looked at the figure while the figure folded his arms over his chest and Peter balled his hands into fists. Dressed in leather pants and boots and wearing a leather coat, the figure smiled at Peter and Pete growled, walking closer. Though an inch shorter than he was, the figure grinned up at him when Peter pulled the wig off the figure's head and tosses the wig to the floor.

"It's bad enough that you're stealing my act. You're not stealing my look!" Peter growled softly through grit teeth and the figure smiled at him.

"Who's to say that you're not stealing my look?" the figure growled softly and Peter balled his hands into fists.

"Right," Peter said when he saw Zoltar, Anthony, Frank and Wiktor watching them then Peter looked up at the screen, smiled and snapped his fingers. The figure's eyes widened after the lights went down and his face appeared on the screens. "Didn't know you were being recorder last night, did ya?"

"Where did you get that?" the figure growled through his teeth and Pete smiled, placing his hands behind his back.

"Simple. I'm friends with the bar tender at the Hard Rock and she agreed to video you the next time you came into the bar. Little did I know just how much you'd spill while looking at her tits," Peter said then snapped his fingers and the video started playing.

"Hello, Handsome. What can I get you?" the young woman with long blonde hair asked as she leaned on the bar and the figure smiled at her.

"I'll have a Midori," he said as the bar tender widened her eyes and he smiled at her. "Don't you know what that is?"

"Yeah, but there's only one person around here that drinks it," she said then turned around and lifted up the glass bottle with a green liquid inside. Pouring the Midori into the glass, she slid the glass toward the figure and he smiled, sipping on the green liquid.

"This other person wouldn't happen to be Peter Vincent, would it?" he asked and she leaned on the bar, giving him a blank look.

"It might. Do you know him?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Yeah," he said then looked around like he was looking at someone then leaned closer, nearly going face to face with her. "But, to be honest, he's a rookie compared to me. I mean, shit, if he was so great, how was I able to copy all his tricks? I mean a baby could do half the shit he does!"

"So you're saying that you've been stealing his tricks?" she asked and the figure sipped on the Midori then lifted the glass, saluting her.

"Just like I said, it was stealing candy from a baby!" the figure said when Peter snapped his finger, stopping the video and the lights came up. The figure looked at him then at the others and sweat rolled down his face. The figure backed away when he backed into Zoltar, who had climbed onto the stage behind the figure, and the figure turned around, looking at him.

"Going somewhere?" Zoltar asked as he placed his hands on the figure's shoulders when Gordon Lester appeared in front of the stage and looked up at them.

"Is what we just saw the truth? Did you steal Mister Vincent's tricks?" Gordon Lester asked and the figure glared at them.

"I demand a lawyer!" the figure growled as he tried to get loose then stood straighter and a smile cut his face nearly in half. "No, I demand a showdown! Let him prove that he isn't the one stealing MY tricks!"

Peter felt his heart slamming in his chest as the others looking at him when Gordon Lester titled his head to one side and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Well, Mister Vincent, do you acknowledge the showdown?" he asked and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah," Peter said while slapping his hands against his thighs and Gordon Lester turned to the others and held up a hand.

"Tonight, you and the audience will witness the showdown between Peter Vincent and…."

"Peter," Cassandra said while gently shaking Peter awake and he fluttered his eyes opened. The dream faded as he looked at her and she held his cell phone in her hand. "It's Detective Kincaide."

Peter sat up as he placed the pillows behind his back then took the cell phone from her and Cassandra snuggled against him.

"What do you want?" Peter asked as he slid his arm around her waist and Cassandra stroked the soft hair on his chest.

"We need you to come down to the precinct," Seamus said.

"Did you get the client lists of the doctor and the lawyer?"

"Yes, and we checked the list from the Garden. But that's not why we need to talk to you."

"Did Jessie find something?" Peter asked while Cassandra felt his skin grow tight and she did little kisses on his chest.

"Yeah, she did. Look, just come to the precinct."

"Sure, and tell your partner that my lawyer will be there as well," Peter said then ended the call and placed the cell phone on the night table.

"Why do you need your lawyer?" Cassandra asked as he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and sighed.

"Not sure, but I have a feeling that I'm about to get arrested," Peter said then gently pushed her off of him, got up and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

The doors to the squad room opened while Peter, dressed in his leather pants, leather boots and leather coat and wearing his makeup, wig, side burns, moustache, goatee and eyebrow ring, Cassandra and Duncan Faller walked into the room and Mark and Seamus looked at them. Duncan placed his briefcase on the desk when he looked at Mark and Seamus and Cassandra held onto Peter's arm.

"Good morning," Duncan said.

"Good morning," Mark said.

"Mister Vincent, come here," Seamus said as Peter and Cassandra walked to the dry board and stood next to him. Peter looked at the flyer, the piece of fabric, the wig, the photos of Doctor Andrew Bennett, Henry Altman, Gordon Lester and Zoltar Casmiri and a plastic bag and Peter blinked his eyes a few times.

"What's in there?" Peter asked as he pointed to the plastic bag.

"According to the report, it's a pair of sideburns, a goatee, a mustache and an eyebrow ring," Seamus said and Peter arched an eyebrow.

"Where did it come from?"

"Jessie found the plastic bag shoved into the chest cavity of Zoltar Casmiri's body," Seamus said as Peter looked over at Mark, sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Ah, well," Peter said while escorting Cassandra toward Duncan and gave Mark a blank look. "Did you get the security video from the Garden?"

"Yes," Seamus said with a nod of his head and Peter walked to the desk while Seamus typed on the keyboard. The screen went blank when the video appeared and Peter leaned on the back of the chair, looking at the screen. Zoltar walked down the hallway when he stopped and Peter hit the pause key.

"See that?" Peter asked as he pointed to the large shadow coming out of the floor and Seamus nodded his head. Peter hit the pause button and the video restarted. Zoltar turned to run as D'yar'nath charged at him then jumped into the air, tackling Zoltar to the floor. Peter had wondered why no one heard screaming when he saw D'yar'nath covering Zoltar's mouth and nose with its large, lower right hand and Seamus closed his eyes while D'yar'nath tore into Zoltar. Peter sighed when he watched D'yar'nath stood up then walked to the wall and wrote something on the wall. He watched when D'yar'nath vanished as he hit the pause button and tapped Seamus' on the top of his head. "You can look now,"

"What is that?" Mark asked while pointing to the screen and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"It wrote something on the wall using Zoltar's blood. Didn't you get the photos I took? I told one of those evidence gathering guys to send them to you," Peter said as Mark walked to the desk and typed on the keyboard.

"Found them," Mark said as Peter walked closer and looked at the screen. Mark clicked on the first picture as Peter looked at the writing then snapped his fingers and pointed at the pen on the desk. Mark handed him the pen then some paper and Peter wrote down what was on the screen. Mark clicked on the second photo as Peter wrote down what was on the screen and tapped the pen on the screen. Mark clicked on the last photo as Peter wrote down what was on the screen then stood back, placing his hands on his hips.

"Is that Latin?" Cassandra asked.

"Yeah, Peter said while scratching the bridge of his nose.

"What does it say?" Mark asked.

"It says "Remember Dante's Inferno"," Peter sighed and Mark gave him a confused look.

"And what is Dante's Inferno?"

"Isn't that a poem?" Seamus asked.

"Yeah, but that's not it," Peter said and Duncan walked closer, looking at Mark.

"Look, are you charging my client with something or not? Because all you have is a bunch of circumstantial evidence and none of it will stand up in court."

"He has a point. What judge would in their right mind would believe any of this?" Seamus asked as Mark sighed and Cassandra noticed the look in Peter's eyes.

"Are you ok?" she whispered as Peter sighed and nodded his head.

"Well, if you're not charging him with anything, we're leaving," Duncan said as he picked up the briefcase and headed for the door. Peter took Cassandra's hand when they left the room and Mark growled, looking at the screen.

Madison Square Garden

Anthony, Frank, Stephanie and Wiktor watched while Peter and Cassandra walked closer and Cassandra held Peter to her side.

"Where've you been?" Anthony asked when Peter noticed that most of the other stages were empty and pouted, scratching the back of his head.

"The cops wanted to talk to me about what happened," Peter said.

"Shit, why, do they think you've got something to do with it?" Frank asked.

"Well, they have one of my flyers, a piece of my banner and some other stuff. So, yeah, they think I had something to do with it," Peter said and Wiktor growled, pounding his right fist into his left hand.

"Who is saying such things about you? I will make them sorry," Wiktor said as Peter sighed and shook his head.

"No, enough people are getting hurt because of me," Peter sighed as Cassandra held him and slid her hand around to his bottom, gently stroking his bottom through his leather pants.

"That's bullshit. You haven't done anything," Anthony said and Peter sighed, looking up at the screen.

"But I am connected to all this."

"What are you talking about?" Frank asked.

"Zoltar and Gordon Lester weren't the only guys that was killed," Peter said then told them about Doctor Andrew Bennett and Henry Altman and Cassandra placed her head against his shoulder.

"Shit," Frank sighed, balling his hands on his lap.

"But what is your connection to all this?" Anthony asked.

"Tell me something. Do you guys remember Dante's Inferno?" Peter asked as they widened their eyes and Peter folded his arms over his chest, waiting for his answer.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Mark looked up when Peter, Cassandra, Anthony, Frank, Stephanie and Wiktor came into the room and headed for the desk. Mark tapped his fingers on Seamus' desk as Seamus looked at Peter and Peter softly smiled at him.

"We need to talk," Peter said as he leaned on the desk and locked eyes with Mark.

"Where's your lawyer?" Mark said with a smug look on his face and Peter glared at him.

"I don't need him for this. Where is the client lists from the lawyer and the doctor?" Peter asked and Seamus typed on the keyboard. Peter walked to Seamus' desk when he leaned on the back of the chair and looked at the screen. The client lists appeared on the screen as Peter looked at the names and blinked his eyes a few times. "Right, search for the name "Oscar Pendragon"."

"Who is Oscar Pendragon?" Mark asked as he got up, walked to the desk and stood next to Peter.

"All in good time," Peter said while Seamus typed on the keyboard. The screen beeped when they saw Oscar Pendragon highlighted on both lists and Peter smiled.

"Well, look at that!" Peter said as he stood up and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ok, so he was a client of both Doctor Andrew Bennett and Henry Altman. Who the hell is he?" Mark asked as Peter looked at him with a smug look on his face and scratched the bridge of his nose.

"He was an asshole," Peter said with a grin, but Mark only glared at him and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes. "Ok, he was this asshole that caused trouble at the Showdown five years ago."

"What did he do?" Seamus asked.

"He stole my act," Peter sighed and Mark titled his head to one side.

"He stole our acts as well," Anthony said.

"Da, he had no honor," Wiktor said.

"The guy was a first rate fraud," Frank said.

"What happened to him?" Mark asked.

"He died," Peter said.

"How did he die?" Mark asked while Seamus typed on the keyboard and looked at the screen. The screen beeped when a news article appeared on the screen and the headline read MAGICAL DEATH AT THE GARDEN. Mark and Seamus read the article when Mark looked at the photograph of Peter and Peter sighed, walking to Cassandra and she slid her arms around him.

"He burned to death," Mark said then looked at Peter and folded his arms over his chest. "Ok, what is Dante's Inferno?"

Manhattan, New York 2006

Looking into the mirror, Peter adjusted the wig when he felt someone sliding their arms around his waist and he turned around, seeing Ginger behind him. She was only wearing her lace panties while she grinned then took his head in her hands and kissed him. He wasn't wearing the sideburns, moustache, goatee and eyebrow ring as she moved her fingers under the wig and the wig tumbled off his head then fell to the floor. Ginger slid her tongue between his lips as he deepened the kiss and moved his hands up and down her back. Sliding his hands along her sides, Peter felt her shivering while she sighed into his mouth and he slid his hands up, cupping her breasts in his hands. Ginger rubbed against him as his cock strained against the leather pants and Peter moaned into her mouth. Ginger watched as Peter went down onto his knees and kissed her stomach while stroking her hips with his fingers. Ginger slid onto her knees when Peter arched her back a bit and slid his lips around her nipple. Ginger gasped as he swirled his tongue over the pebbled flesh and she grabbed onto his hair, twirling some of his hair around her fingers.

"Fuck," Ginger moaned as he smiled and stroked the underside of her right breast, causing a cool shiver to move through her. Going onto her back, Ginger looked up at him when Peter stood up and she noticed the makeup on his chest and neck was smudged. Grinning, Peter pulled on the laces as his leather pants loosened and Peter dropped the leather pants to the floor. Ginger sat up as she stroked his balls and he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Shit!" Peter moaned as Ginger slid her lips around his cock and gently licked the warm tip. Rolling his eyes, Peter shivered while Ginger's tongue swirled around his cock and she slid his cock further down her throat. Sucking and nibbling on his cock, she felt his cock pulsating while Peter moaned and his heart thudded hard in his chest. Peter yelped when Ginger bit his cock after someone knocked on the door and he slid his cock out of her mouth, walking to the door. "What?"

"Fifteen minutes, Mister Vincent," the voice said as Peter sighed and placed his forehead against the door.

"Right," Peter said while pounding his fist on the door then turned, looking at Ginger then down at his erection. Shrugging, Peter walked to the bathroom when he closed the door and the light came on under the door.

The lights lowered as the screens clicked on while Gordon Lester walk toward the microphone stand and the audience applauded. Raising his hands, Gordon Lester explained what was about to happen while Peter stood on the stage and brushed the leather coat back, placing his hands on his hips. The lights came on over the stage as the audience applauded and cheered and Peter scowled, holding his arms out. A small smile came to his lips as the females in the audience cheered and he arched an eyebrow. The light came on over the other stage as the audience booed and Oscar Pendragon growled, balling his hands into fists.

"Fuck you!" Oscar shouted and Peter softly laughed, rolling his eyes.

"Giving up already?" Peter shouted and the audience laughed.

"NO!" Oscar shouted and Peter grinned, turned and sat on the throne prop. Peter swung his left leg over the arm of the throne prop when he heard some of the women in the audience cheer and slid his hands down to cover his crotch. Giving them a sly smile, Peter titled his head and shook a finger at them.

"Alright, Gentlemen, are you ready?" Gordon Lester asked as Peter looked at the chipped nail polish on the fingers of his left hand then looked at him and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Peter said with a wave of his hand and Oscar growled at him.

"Let's get this over with!" Oscar said, walking to the throne prop and sat down.

"Mister Vincent, will you please go first?" Gordon Lester asked as Peter sighed, stood up and stood at the center of the stage. The audience was engrossed while Peter preformed his act and applauded as he bowed then walked to the throne prop, sitting down. Oscar growled when Peter placed his right leg over the arm of the throne prop and Gordon Lester looked at Oscar. "Mister Pendragon, if you please."

Peter watched while Oscar got up, walked to the center of the stage and Peter scratched the bridge of his nose. The audience booed and jeered while Oscar preformed Peter's act and laughed when three of the acts flopped. Peter noticed that Oscar was getting annoyed when he growled and stormed offstage. The lights lowered while the stage hands came onstage and set up for Oscar's final act. Standing up, Peter walked to the edge of the stage then hopped off the stage and walked to Gordon Lester. The lights came up as Peter looked up at the screen and his eyes widened. On the stage were nine rings with tubes sticking out of the rings and Peter balled his hands into fists.

"Shit," Peter whispered as Gordon Lester looked at him and titled his head to one side.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked and Peter sighed, folding his arms over his chest.

"If that is what I think it is, he's going to get killed," Peter said as Gordon Lester looked up at the screen and saw the rings.

"No, it can't be! He's not going to attempt Dante's Inferno!"

"Yep," Peter said as he popped the "p" then sighed, placing his hands on his hips.

"I have to stop him!" Gordon Lester said as he headed for the stage when Oscar walked onstage and walked by the rings, standing at the center. "Mister Pendragon, are you aware that the trick you are about to perform is forbidden? I demand you leave the stage immediately!"

"So you are ready to admit that Mister Vincent is guilty of fraud and stole my act?" Oscar demanded as Peter sighed and walked to the stage, standing next to Gordon Lester.

"Look, you fucking asshole, this has nothing to do with our showdown! That trick is dangerous! Now get off the fucking stage!" Peter shouted as Oscar looked at him and the audience started to get worried.

"For the last time, what is Dante's Inferno?" Mark asked as Peter sighed, let go of Cassandra and walked to the dry board. Turning the dry board around, Peter picked up the pen when he took the cap off the pen then drew nine circles on the dry board. Making tiny lines on the circles, Peter placed the cap back on the pen and turned, looking at them.

"Right, Dante's Inferno is based on the nine levels of Hell. Each of the nine rings gave a set of jets and the jets ignite until the fire reaches in inner circle. The idea of the trick is to escape before the last circle ignites," Peter said and Seamus softly smiled.

"That's easy. There would be a secret trap door in the inner circle and the trap door opens just before the jets of the inner circle ignite," Seamus said and Peter nodded his head.

"That's exactly right, a gold start for you. Now, it takes split second timing, but the danger of the trick is the jets could ignite prematurely and…." Peter said and Mark sighed, rolling his eyes.

"The one performing the trick becomes a piece of fried meat?" Mark asked and Peter nodded.

"That's why it was forbidden for anyone to perform the trick, but Pendragon didn't give a shit," Peter said as he looked at the dry board and sighed.

Manhattan, New York 2006

Oscar glared at Peter when Oscar snapped his fingers and the first ring ignited. The audience gasped as Oscar smiled and Peter stepped closer to the stage.

"Come on! Stop this shit!" Peter said when Oscar snapped his fingers again and the second, third and fourth rings ignited.

"Mister Pendragon….!" Gordon Lester shouted when a bright light flared and Oscar screamed. The audience gasped while Peter ran toward the stage, only to be stopped by security guards, and the lights came up. The fire spread across the stage as Oscar's screams died down and the sprinklers clicked on, sending waves of cold water down on the showroom. Peter growled while Ginger walked closer, slid her arm around his waist and led him away from the stage.

"And that was what happened," Peter said as he turned the dry board around and walked to the chair in front of the desk, sitting down. "Do you have Pendragon's files from the lawyer and the doctor?"

"No, just his name on the clients' lists," Seamus said.

"When did he meet the lawyer?" Peter asked and Seamus looked at the screen.

"They met ten years ago and the last recorded meeting between them was five years ago in April," Seamus said and Peter got up, pacing back and forth.

"Is there a date when Pendragon met the doctor?" Peter asked as Seamus typed on the keyboard and looked at the screen. Seamus sat back on the chair as he ran his fingers through his hair and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Pendragon became a patient of Doctor Andrew Bennett on the tenth of July. Now, unless this is a different Oscar Pendragon, it looks like he survived."

"That's not possible. I remember seeing what was left of Pendragon after the fire was put out," Frank said as he moved the wheelchair closer to the desk and Seamus looked at him. "He was burned to a crisp."

"How did you get to see the body?" Mark asked.

"The screens were still on and everyone saw body," Wiktor said.

"The audience panicked, but the security guards calmly led everyone out of the room just as the EMT guys arrived," Anthony said.

"Does it say where they took Pendragon's body?" Cassandra asked as she pointed to the news article and Seamus looked at the article.

"No, but there isn't any further visits by Pendragon after the fourth of September," Seamus said as Peter sat down, looked at the screen and leaned his forearms on the desk.

"Which means one of two things, either Pendragon died or Bennett had successfully reconstructed his face and body," Peter said, leaning back on the chair.

"There is one way to find out," Mark said as they looked at him and Peter tilted his head to one side.

"Well?" Peter asked as he motioned with his hand for him to continue.

"Not here," Mark said as he got up, headed for the door and opened the door. Confused, the others followed Mark out of the room as Peter frowned and the door closed behind them.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

The doors opened as Mark led the way while they went down the hallway and headed for the doors to the morgue. Opening the doors, Mark stood back for the others to come into the room and the door closed as they headed for the metal table.

"Where's Doctor Forest?" Peter asked when the door opened and a tall man with blonde hair and green eyes stopped near the doors, looking at them.

"Who are you?" Doctor Kevin Zane asked as Mark walked closer and showed him his identification. "Oh, what can I do for you, Detective?"

"We need to talk to Doctor Forest," Peter said while walking closer and placed his hands on his hips.

"Wait, you're Peter Vincent, aren't you? I saw your show in Vegas last month," Kevin said and Peter smiled, scratching an itch on the side of his nose.

"Yeah, I'm Peter Vincent, be a good boy and go fetch Doctor Forest," Peter said while waving his hand at him and Cassandra softly smiled, sliding her arms around his arm. Flipping him off, Kevin left while Stephanie looked at the x-rays on the screen and Peter walked closer, tapping her on the shoulder. "You ok?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking about Dad. If this thing comes after him…." Stephanie said then sniffed and Peter held his arms out. She held him as the tears came and he kissed the top of her head. Feeling the makeup on his chest dribbling down his chest, Peter hushed her when the door opened and Jessie walked toward the metal table, looking at them.

"What the hell?" she asked as Mark walked closer and she folded her arms over her chest.

"Sorry to bother you, Doc, but have you ever heard of Oscar Pendragon? He would have come through about five years ago," Mark said while Jessie thought for a few seconds then frowned, shaking her head.

"Nope, the name doesn't sound familiar," she said and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Great," he said softly as Stephanie smiled up at him and Peter shrugged, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.

"Can we see Zoltar Casmiri's body then?" Mark asked. Nodding, Jessie led them to the metal doors where the bodies were stored when she opened the door and pulled out the metal shelf. Seamus stood at the back while Stephanie held onto Frank's hand and she smiled down at him. Jessie moved the sheet back as they looked at the body and Frank felt foolish from Wiktor holding him in his arms, allowing him to see the body.

"You found the plastic bag in the chest cavity, right?" Peter asked and Jessie nodded, removing the small, metal poker from her pocket, extending the small, metal pointer.

"Yes, it was right about here," Jessie said while pointing with the small, metal pointer on Zoltar's chest and Peter nodded his head. Slowly, he moved his hand toward the body when he felt the waves of power moving under his hand and he titled his head to one side.

"What are you doing?" Anthony asked.

"Place your hand over his body and tell me what you feel," Peter said when Anthony moved closer and placed his hand over Zoltar's body, feeling the waves of power moving under his hand.

"Shit," Anthony said then looked at Wiktor and Wiktor walked closer, holding his hand over Zoltar's body. Frank held his hand over Zoltar's body as the waves of power moved under his hand and they looked at Peter.

"What is that?" Frank asked as Wiktor placed him back in the wheelchair and Stephanie carefully walked closer, placing her hand over Zoltar's body.

"It feels like it's alive," Stephanie whispered and Peter smiled, sliding his arm around her.

"No, it's not alive. More like it's a signature," he said and they looked at him with a confused look on their faces.

"And whose signature is it?" Wiktor asked. Looking at Jessie, Peter wiggled his finger as they went to one side of the room and Peter motioned with his hands for them to huddle up. Jessie looked at Mark and Seamus as Mark shrugged and Jessie sighed, looking down at Zoltar's body.

"Well?" Anthony whispered as Peter looked at them and placed his fingers to his lips.

"A show of hands if you know who D'yar'nath is," Peter whispered and their eyes widened.

"Are you saying that Zoltar was killed by….?" Frank whispered and Peter nodded his head.

"Wait, wasn't D'yar'nath destroyed?" Anthony whispered.

"No, the last reported sighting of D'yar'nath was in eighteen twenty-three in Athens. Some low level magicians had found one of the lairs of D'yar'nath and cornered D'yar'nath after D'yar'nath had been weakened in battle with some other demons. Taking D'yar'nath by surprise, they performed a spell that is rumored to have turned D'yar'nath into stone," Peter whispered and scratched the side of his nose.

"Wait, you think Pendragon found the statue and freed D'yar'nath?" Frank whispered.

"Or whoever wants us to think it's Pendragon could have freed it," Cassandra whispered and Peter smiled at her, kissing her cheek.

"So we're going hunting, da?" Wiktor whispered as Peter smiled and winked at them.

"But we don't have any weapons and I don't think Dad should go," Stephanie whispered and Frank glared at her.

"Hey, I can still take down a demon," he softly growled and Peter patted Frank's shoulder.

"No one is saying you can't," Peter whispered then looked at Mark and Seamus and waved at them. "Anyway, let's go back to the Hard Rock then we can go kill something."

"Da, is good plan," Wiktor whispered when they broke the huddle and Peter stood in front of them with his arms folded over his chest.

"Well, seeing this was a waste of time, we're out of here," Peter said as he headed for the door, but Mark cut him off and stood face to face with him.

"Where are you going?" Mark demanded and Peter arched his eyebrows and gave him a blank look.

"None of your business," Peter said then opened the door and did a bow as the others left the room. Flipping Mark off, Peter left the room and the door closed in Mark's face.

"Come on," Mark growled as Seamus sighed then followed him out of the room and they walked down the hallway. Both were stunned when they saw that Peter, Cassandra, Anthony, Wiktor, Frank and Stephanie were gone and Mark growled, balling his hands into fists.

"Where did they go?" Seamus asked while Mark glared at him then sighed and headed for the lift.

The lift doors opened while Peter led Cassandra, Anthony, Wiktor, Stephanie and Frank down the hallway and Peter walked to the bar, pouring some Midori into a glass.

"Does anyone want anything to drink?" Peter asked, leaning against the bar.

"I wouldn't mind a beer," Frank said as Peter nodded and knelt down, opened the door to the mini refrigerator then placed a bottle of beer on the bar.

"Make that two," Anthony said as Peter looked up from behind the bar and smiled, rolling his eyes. He went back behind the bar when he placed another bottle on the bar and his right hand appeared.

"Anyone else want a beer?" Peter's hand asked in a high pitch voice and Cassandra and Stephanie laughed. Peter's hand turned side to side as Wiktor and Anthony started laughing then Peter's hand bent down as if it was looking at Peter. "I don't think anyone else wants a beer."

"Good, my knees are killing me!" Peter said as he stood up and Anthony walked to the bar, picking up the bottles of beer.

"Asshole," Anthony said while walking to Frank and Peter gave him a blank look then stuck his tongue out. Cassandra walked to the bar when she gently smacked Peter's arm and walked behind the bar, kneeling down in front of the mini refrigerator. She took out two bottles of water when she stood up then yelped when Peter grabbed her around the waist and kissed her neck. Wiggling out of his arms, Cassandra giggled as she gently smacked his chest and walked to Stephanie, handing her a bottle of water.

"Do you have vodka?" Wiktor asked as Peter nodded then poured some vodka into a glass and Wiktor walked to the bar, picking up the glass.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Peter said as he took the glass of Midori into the bedroom and Cassandra followed him, closing the door behind them. A few minutes later they came out of the bedroom and Peter was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt and was barefoot. Cassandra was a little surprised that no one noticed that Peter looked different and Wiktor smiled at her.

"Little One, do you think we don't know Peter has two faces?" he asked.

"Um, no, I didn't think you knew," she said and Peter slid his arms around her, pulled her against him then kissed her neck.

"Oh for fuck sake, get a room!" Frank sighed as they laughed and Peter let Cassandra go, walking to the couch. Sitting down, Peter placed his feet on the coffee table and sipped on the Midori. Cassandra sat next to him as the others sat down on the couches and chairs and Frank moved the wheelchair to the window, looking out at the few.

"Frank?" Peter asked as he got up and walked to Frank. Squatting down on his haunches, Peter looked at Frank as Frank sighed and sipped on the beer.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Stephanie's right. I shouldn't go," Frank said and Peter's eyes widened.

"Bullshit, you're one of the best demon hunters I know."

"Peter, this isn't Supernatural. I'm useless in a fight and will only slow you down," Frank sighed and Peter stood up, patting Frank's shoulder.

"I understand," he said softly as he turned and looked at the others. "I mean I wouldn't blame you if you're scared. Shit, I'm scared."

"I didn't say I was fucking scared! I just said…."

"Yeah, I know, you're fucking useless and will slow us down. It's ok. Really," Peter said as he started to walk away and Frank growled, turned the wheelchair around and moved the wheelchair until it slammed into Peter's legs, knocking him to the floor. Rolling onto his back, Peter smiled up at Frank as Frank rolled his eyes and laughed.

"Asshole," Frank said softly as Peter got up and winked at him.

"If you two are done comparing cocks, can we get to figuring out what do to now?" Anthony asked as Peter and Frank headed for the couch and Peter sat down next to Cassandra, sliding his arm around her shoulders.

"So, anyone have idea where Pendragon is?" Wiktor asked, placing his feet on the coffee table then sipped on the vodka.

"No, but we do have a way of tracking whoever it is," Peter said and wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"Are you talking about energy wave?" Wiktor asked and Peter nodded his head.

"And how are we going to track it?" Anthony asked when the bedroom door opened and Boe walked out, walking toward the couch and stood near Peter. "What the hell is that?"

"That is tiger," Wiktor said and Anthony growled, flipping him off.

"This is Boe," Peter said as he stroked the top of the tiger's head and Boe softly purred.

"Is he a part of your act?" Stephanie asked as she got up, walked carefully to Boe, knelt down and stroked the soft fur.

"No, he's my familiar," Peter said and they looked at him with wide eyes.

"Heh, I thought your familiar would be bunny rabbit," Wiktor teased and they laughed while Peter rolled his eyes. Cross flew out of the bedroom when he landed on the back of the couch while Cassandra held her wrist out and Cross climbed onto her wrist. "Ah, I get it now. Falcon is Little One's familiar, da?"

"Yes," Cassandra said as she stroked Cross' chest and Cross softly purred.

"And tiger will be able to track the energy wave?"

"That's the plan," Peter said then got up and walked to the bar. Picking up the receiver, Peter pushed the buttons and they looked at him.

"Who are you calling?" Frank asked.

"Well, we are good when it comes to hunting demons and shit, but it never hurts to have back up," Peter said when a softly click filled his ear and he held up a finger.

"Detective Kincaide," Seamus' voice said in his ear and Peter softly smiled.

"How would you and that shithead of a partner of yours like to go hunting?" Peter asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, just get your asses over to the Hard Rock and I'll explain," Peter said then ended the call and placed the receiver on the cradle of the telephone. The others looked at Peter when he walked to the wall near the entertainment center then turned, wiggling a finger at them. Heading toward the entertainment center, the others stood next to him when Peter stuck two fingers in the eyeholes of a human skull sitting on a shelf and stood back. They watched as the wall slid open and Peter smiled at their shocked look from seeing the weapons sitting on the shelves or hanging on the pegs.

"Fuck," Anthony said softly as Peter smiled, placed his foot against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Wearing a leather coat, a black t-shirt, black jeans, black leather boots and a black vest with wooden stakes on the front, Peter placed the receiver back on the cradle of the telephone when he turned to the others and leaned against the bar.

"Well, our backups on their way up," Peter said while pouring some Midori into a glass then slugged the Midori down and walked to the coffee table, picking up the sword with a golden handle and hilt. The silver blade sword belonged to his ancestor, Giacomo Vincenzi, and Peter had placed the silver blade sword in the secret scabbard he had sewn into the leather coat.

The ping of the lift doors alerted them as Mark and Seamus walked down the hallway when they saw the rifles, boxes of ammunition, wooden stakes, bottles of holy water, two, double blade axes, a flamethrower, several crosses made of wood, silver and brass and what looked like a super soaker water gun sitting on the coffee table, bar and the couches and Peter was cleaning the silver blade sword. Anthony handed Frank one of the rifles while the others began arming themselves and Peter placed the silver blade sword in the scabbard that was hanging off the belt around his waist. Smiling, he watched while Cassandra adjusted the belt when he leaned closer and placed his forehead against her forehead.

"Watch the hands," Peter whispered as she smiled then kissed his lips and he brushed some hair behind her ear.

"Excuse me!" Mark shouted as they turned to look at them and Peter slid his arms around Cassandra, pulling her against him. Mark and Seamus walked closer while Peter placed his hand on the top of the hilt of the silver blade sword and tilted his head to one side.

"Before you say anything, I have permits for all this," Peter said when the door to the bedroom opened and Boe walked into the room, heading toward Peter. Boe sat down next to Peter when Peter stroked the top of the tiger's head and Mark gave him a blank look, pointing to Boe. "Yeah, I have permits for him, too."

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Mark asked.

"Like I told your partner, we are going to hunt D'yar'nath and thought you might like to come with us," Peter said as he placed the bottles of holy water into the pocket of the leather coat and took out the crumbled pack of cigarillos and the silver lighter. He took out a cigarillo when he placed the end of the cigarillo into his mouth, placed the crumbled pack into the pocket then lit the cigarillo, placing the silver lighter back into the pocket.

"And we might figure out who the killer is," Anthony said as he sipped on some whiskey and leaned against the bar.

"We know who the killer is," Mark said as he looked at Peter and Peter sighed, rolling his eyes.

"ANYWAY, if we're ready, let's go," Peter said when he walked to the bedroom and opened the door. With a bow, Peter pointed with his hands for them to go into the bedroom and closed the door after they had gone inside. The others stood at the center of the room while Cassandra walked to the cage and removed Cross from the cage. Peter knelt down in front of Boe while the tiger looked at him and Peter held his hand out. Curious, Boe moved closer when the tiger sniffed Peter's hand and slowly titled its head to one side.. Peter could still feel the energy from Zoltar's body as the tiger walked from him to Anthony then bumped its head against Anthony hand. Smiling, Anthony held his hand out and allowed the tiger to sniff his hand. After Boe had sniffed their hands, the tiger walked to the wall when it turned and looked back at them. "Right, let's go."

"Go? Where the hell are you going?" Mark asked as he walked to Peter and Peter sighed, placing his hands on his hips.

"We're going to use the Dark Road."

"What's the Dark Road?" Seamus asked.

"The Dark Road is a passage that witches, wizards and other magical beings use to travel from one place to another, but it can be hazardous if anyone strayed off the path," Cassandra said as she walked closer and stood next to Peter.

"And how do we get there?" Mark asked sarcastically. Growling, Peter walked to the wall when Mark and Seamus noticed that the wall had turned black and an ominous wind whistled in the darkness. Boe walked in front of them when the tiger sniffed the ground and Peter looked at the others.

"Right, everyone keep together. I don't want to lose anyone," Peter said as he followed Boe into the darkness and Cassandra followed close behind him. Anthony and Wiktor followed her then Frank and Stephanie as Mark looked at Seamus and Seamus shrugged, half running to catch up with them. Mark sighed as he went to catch up with Seamus and the ominous wind howled around them. Boe lead the way while Peter reached behind him and Cassandra took his hand, wrapping her fingers around his fingers. She walked beside him while Boe looked straight ahead and Peter slid his arm around Cassandra, pulling her closer. Anthony and Wiktor walked closer while Frank patted his lap and Stephanie sat on his lap, placing her head on his shoulder. Seamus noticed that no one looked around when he pointed and Mark nodded, locking his eyes straight ahead.

"How long will this take?" Mark asked.

"I don't know," Peter said when Boe started walking faster and they followed close behind the tiger. A few minutes later the tiger walked out into a dark hallway as they came out of the darkness and Mark and Seamus removed their guns from the holsters, holding the guns tightly in their hands. Anthony turned on the torch that Peter had given him as he shined the light around the hallway when he saw the photographs on the wall and walked closer.

"Hey, check this out!" Anthony said as they walked closer and looked at the photographs. MAGICAL DEATH AT THE GARDEN was the headline of the old newspaper clipping taped to the wall as they looked at the photographs and Peter growled, seeing several darts pinned to one of the photographs. He also noticed the red ink horns on the photograph and he growled, balling his hands into fists. More photographs of Peter were taped to the wall as they looked at the photographs when Peter sighed, turned and headed down the hallway. The light from the street cast shadows on the walls while they followed Peter when he stopped at a door and placed his hand on the door handle. Motioning with his hand for them to stop, Peter slowly opened the door when he peeked inside the room and opened the door some more. Snapping his fingers, Peter looked at Anthony when Anthony handed him the torch and Peter shined the light in the room. Walking into the room, Peter shined the light around when something flashed in the darkness and Peter walked closer, tilting his head to one side.

"Peter?" Cassandra asked as he turned while shining the light toward her and held his finger to his lips, hushing her. Wiggling his fingers for them to come in, Peter shined the light around when he saw the silver circle and walked closer. Kneeling down on his haunches, Peter shined the light on the silver circle as he looked at the runes carved in the silver circle and titled his head to one side. Cassandra walked to him when she knelt next to him and he moved the light around, stopping when he saw a pair of large feet with sharp talons bent in on the four toes. Slowly moving the light up, they slightly jumped when they saw D'yar'nath looking down at them. Carefully standing up, Peter slid an arm around Cassandra while D'yar'nath titled its head to one side and slowly blinked its eyes. Peter let go of Cassandra when he stood in front of D'yar'nath and D'yar'nath scraped its toes on the floor, spraying little, curled chips of wood in the air. Peter locked eyes with D'yar'nath when Peter fell onto his knees then went prone on the floor and Cassandra looked from Peter to D'yar'nath then fell to her knees and went prone on the floor.

"What are they doing?" Mark whispered.

"They are showing D'yar'nath respect," Anthony whispered when he walked to the silver circle and fell to his knees, going prone on the floor. Wiktor, Frank and Stephanie headed toward the silver circle while Wiktor helped Frank out of the wheelchair and they went prone on the floor. Shrugging, Seamus walked to the silver circle when he knelt next to Cassandra then looked back at Mark and Mark sighed, walking to the silver circle. Seamus and Mark knelt on the floor and went prone on the floor. D'yar'nath looked down at them while slowly blinking its eyes and the thin lips parted as D'yar'nath smiled. Snapping its fingers, D'yar'nath slowly nodded its head and they stood up while Wiktor helped Frank into the wheelchair.

"Ok, we found the demon lord. Now what do we do?" Mark asked while Peter shined the light on the silver circle and looked at the runes. Tilting his head side to side, Peter wiggled the fingers of his left hand while trying to translate the runes when he sighed and shined the light on D'yar'nath.

"Well, for one thing, we're going to have to find a way to free His Lordship here," Peter said as D'yar'nath slowly blinked its eyes and softly smiled at him.

"Do you think that's wise?" Seamus asked.

"It couldn't hurt," Peter said with a shrug of his shoulder then slid the rifle out of the leather coat and checked to see if the rifle was loaded. Smiling at D'yar'nath, Peter took aim when he waved with his hand for D'yar'nath to move its foot back and fired the rifle. The wood exploded while the others ducked and Peter walked a few feet to the left and fired the rifle. "There, that should do it."

D'yar'nath looked down at the silver circle when it slowly lifted its foot then stepped over the silver circle. Taking a few steps, D'yar'nath stood in front of them as Peter looked up and lowered the rifle.

"Everyone back up real slow," Peter said softly as they moved back and D'yar'nath flexed its fingers in and out. "Now, there's no need for trouble. We're not going to hurt you."

"Got that right," Mark whispered and Seamus gently nudged him in the ribs. D'yar'nath titled its head to one side then looked into the darkness and pointed to the left. Nodding, Peter walked into the darkness when he shined the light around then saw the wooden table and walked closer, shining the light on the white, ceramic urn sitting on the table. Picking up the white, ceramic urn, Peter shined the light on the golden label and read the name etched on the golden label. Walking back to the others, he stood next to Cassandra and looked at the white, ceramic urn.

"Well, I found Pendragon," Peter sighed as he held up the white, ceramic urn then handed the white, ceramic urn to Cassandra, who handed the white, ceramic urn to Mark. Walking back into the darkness, Peter and Cassandra headed for the wooden table while he shined the light up and looked at the photographs on the wall. The photographs of Doctor Andrew Bennett, Henry Altman, Gordon Lester and Zoltar had an X slashed through them as he looked at the other photographs then shined the light down on the wooden table, seeing a small, black frame lying face down on the wooden table. Picking up the small, black frame, Peter shined the light on the photograph and his eyes went wide. "Shit."

"Find something?" Mark asked while Peter and Cassandra walked toward them and Peter handed the small, black frame to him. Looking at the photograph, Mark and Seamus' mouths dropped open when Boe and Cross started growling and Peter frowned, looking toward the doorway. Shining the light toward the doorway, Peter nearly dropped the torch and the figure in the doorway smiled, brushing some hair back.

"Hello," Jessie said then leaned on the doorframe and D'yar'nath growled, its red eyes shimmering in the darkness.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"How's that for a plot twist?" Peter asked while Jessie walked closer and stood in front of Peter, crossing her arms over her chest. "Tell me. How long were you and Pendragon fucking each other before he became a crispy critter?"

Peter didn't have time to move when Jessie glared at him then swung her fist, punching Peter in the mouth.

"Hey!" Cassandra said when Peter held up his hand and wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. Standing up, Peter spit some blood out of his mouth then ran his tongue over his teeth and glared at Jessie.

"Doc, what the fuck is going on?" Mark asked, getting confused.

"You really are thick, aren't you?" Anthony asked as he rolled his eyes and Mark flipped him off.

"Mind answering my question?" Peter asked while walking closer and placed his hand on the gold hilt of the silver blade sword.

"Fine, we weren't dating. Oscar Pendragon was my brother," Jessie said and Mark's eyes widened.

"What?" Mark asked and Peter rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Ok, seeing that I have to explain this to Mister Dim Bulb over here, I will elucidate. Pendragon wasn't Oscar's real name. It was his stage name. His real last name was Forest and SHE is or was his sister!" Peter said while pointing with his hands toward Jessie then turned, looking at her. "Now, my next question is why did you kill Henry Altman?"

"He refused to sue the city after Oscar was injured," Jessie said and Peter frowned, blinking his eyes a few times.

"Well, maybe that's because your brother was an asshole and shouldn't have performed Dante's Inferno in the first place!" Anthony said and Jessie glared at him, balling her hands into fists.

"Easy does it. Now, my next question is how did your brother die? Was it from complications during the skin grafts Doctor Andrew Bennett performed?" Peter asked and Jessie glared at him.

"Yes, he died from complications during surgery," Jessie growled.

"Ah, which gives you motive for killing Doctor Bennett. Now I know why you killed Gordon Lester and Zoltar Casmiri. Gordon Lester was the one that allowed your brother to perform Dante's Inferno and Zoltar was the one that stopped him when he tried to make a brake for it."

"But why did she wait so long to exact her revenge?" Cassandra asked as Peter turned to look at her and smiled.

"Ah, that is a VERY good question!" Peter said as he held up a finger then spun around on his heels, looking at Jessie. "The reason is because we were never in the city at the same time! Altman and Bennett might have been in town, but not me, Zoltar and Gordon Lester!"

"Or you and Zoltar could be in town and not the others," Stephanie said and Peter walked to her, kissing her cheek.

"Exactly, BUT this time we were all in town! A perfect chance for her to activate her revenge plan! I'm still not sure if she wanted me dead or she wanted to frame me for murder. Oh, she did have the opportunity to plant whatever she wanted to use in order to frame me. The thing was she couldn't plant the evidence at the scene because of the other police officers and CCTV cameras, BUT she could plant whatever it was at the morgue. She just had to stand with her back to the CCTV camera. You did make one tiny mistake though."

"What is he talking about?" Mark asked and Seamus hushed him.

"I am talking about the plastic bag with the sideburns, moustache, goatee and eyebrow ring," Peter said with a smug look on his face then crossed his arms over his chest. "How many loops are there to my eyebrow ring?"

"There is one," Wiktor said as Peter looked at him and smiled.

"Bingo!" he said then looked at Jessie. "How many loops did the eyebrow ring in the plastic bag have?"

"It had two loops," Seamus said when Peter walked over to him, cupped his head in his hands and kissed Seamus on the lips. Seamus gave him a disgusted look as Cassandra laughed and rolled her eyes.

"The next thing she needed something special, something she could control and use to exact her revenge. That something was His Lordship!" Peter said while pointing with his hands toward D'yar'nath. "How long did it take for you to find him?"

"It took three years," Jessie said and Peter nodded his head.

"And it must have taken a lot of sneaking around and money to get the statue here from wherever they had hidden it. You also needed a place to hide the statue and this old building was a great choice. It's in a low rent neighborhood and no one would care if, say, someone shot off a rifle in the middle of the night," Peter said and Seamus did notice that he didn't hear sirens after Peter had fired the rifle "The next thing you had to do is find a way to bind His Lordship to your will. That would require two things."

They watched as Peter walked to the silver circle and D'yar'nath watched him walking around the silver circle, hopping over the holes.

"You needed a binding circle and a solid silver one with binding ruins usually does the trick. Then you needed a controller," Peter said as he looked around the room while shining the light around and smiled at D'yar'nath. "It had to be something that belonged to His Lordship, but what was it?"

Cassandra walked closer while she looked at D'yar'nath and blinked her eyes a few times. Thinking back to the drawing of D'yar'nath, she tried to see the drawing in detail when she remembered something and her eyes widened.

"You mean like a black diamond on a gold chain?" she asked when Peter looked at her and titled his head to one side. "Do you remember the drawing of D'yar'nath in your demoncrom? He was wearing what looked like a gold chain with a black stone or diamond on the end of it."

"Yeah, I do remember seeing that," Peter said then walked to Jessie and locked eyes with her. "Where is it?"

"Are you talking about this?" Jessie said as she held up a gold chain with a round, black diamond the size of a grapefruit and Peter shined the light on the round, black diamond. The round, black diamond seemed to shimmer in a red light as he slid his hand under the round, black diamond and the power coming from the round, black diamond felt like the power he felt coming off the bodies of Zoltar, Doctor Bennett, Henry Altman and Gordon Lester. Moving his hand away, Peter backed up as Jessie smiled at him and moved the gold chain, making the round, black diamond sway back and forth.

"Why do I have the feeling that the one with the magic was you and not Oscar," Peter said as he arched an eyebrow and Jessie softly laughed, cupping the round, black diamond in her hand.

"Well, Oscar was good at the little things, but, yeah, the one with the power was me," she said and grinned an evil grin. "Want to see what I can do?"

"Oh, Love, that could be taken in such a naughty way," Peter said as he tightened his grip on the hilt of the silver blade sword and locked eyes with her.

"Oh get over yourself. I wouldn't touch you if you were on fire," she growled then held up the round, black diamond and Peter saw the red light growing brighter.

"Peter!" Cassandra said as he turned and looked over at D'yar'nath. D'yar'nath's eyes were glowing in a red light as D'yar'nath flexed its fingers in and out and scraped its feet on the floor.

"Great," Peter sighed then removed the silver blade sword out of the scabbard and D'yar'nath softly growled. Wrapping his fingers tightly around the handle of the sword, Peter locked eyes with D'yar'nath and D'yar'nath growled, scraping its feet on the floor. Peter's eyes had adjusted to the low light as his eyes darted from one arm to the other when D'yar'nath roared and swung the upper right arm and Peter swung the silver blade sword, connecting with the upper right arm. D'yar'nath yowled then swung the lower right arm and the upper left arm and Peter dodged, swinging the silver blade sword and the silver blade sliced through the skin of the arms.

"Need some help?" Anthony asked when he held the hose of the flamethrower in his hands and Peter looked at him then ducked when D'yar'nath swung its arms.

"If you would be so kind," Peter said with a grin and Anthony turned the flamethrower on and lit the gas hissing from the end of the hose. A long tongue of fire lit up the room when Anthony took aim as D'yar'nath growled and Anthony pulled the trigger. D'yar'nath growled as the flames hit at the center of its back and D'yar'nath howled, turning around and looking at him.

"Oh shit," Anthony said then pulled the trigger and a long tongue of flame hit D'yar'nath in the face. D'yar'nath howled as Wiktor sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Using fire on demon from Hell? That is just stupid. It lives in fire. Watch me," Wiktor said then charged at D'yar'nath and Wiktor held the handle of the double blade axe in his hands. Growling, Wiktor swung the double blade axe as D'yar'nath growled then screamed when Wiktor sliced off the upper right arm, spaying black blood into the air. The upper right arm landed with a thud onto the ground while the fingers twitched then stopped and Wiktor raised the double blade axe over his head, howling while tilting his head back.

"Wiktor, watch out!" Frank shouted then took aim with the rifle he had on his lap and pulled the trigger. D'yar'nath roared as the bullets hit its back then turned and looked at Frank. Seamus and Mark drew their guns as they pulled the triggers and D'yar'nath howled, turning to face them. Stephanie held the super soaker water gun as she pulled the trigger and D'yar'nath screeched as the holy water hit its skin. Peter brushed some hair from his eyes when he shrugged then swung the silver blade sword and cut a long gash across D'yar'nath left side. The black blood dribbled to the floor as smoke rose into the air and Peter smelt something that smelled like rotten eggs.

"Be careful of the blood! It's acid!" Peter shouted while they fought with D'yar'nath and Cassandra looked at Jessie, who was smiling and held the round, black diamond tightly in her hand. Boe had been roaring and snapping at D'yar'nath while Cross sat on Cassandra's wrist then flew into the air, heading for Jessie.

"Shit!" Jessie said while holding her arms up to protect her face when Cross wrapped its talons around the round, black diamond and pulled the round, black diamond out of her hand. "NO!"

Cross flew back to Cassandra as she held her hand out and Cross dropped the round, black diamond into her hand. Growling, Jessie ran at Cassandra then dived on her and grabbed hold of the round black diamond. Slamming Cassandra's hand over her head, Jessie saw the red light shimmering in the round, black diamond and held tightly onto the round, black diamond. Cross flew into the air when the falcon raked its claws on Jessie's back and Jessie screamed, reaching behind her as she tried to grab hold of Cross.

"Cassy!" Peter shouted, but Cassandra shook her head and Peter sighed, looking back at D'yar'nath. D'yar'nath growled then ran toward Peter when Peter stepped over the silver circle and held tightly onto the handle of the silver blade sword. Swinging the silver blade sword, Peter's eyes widened when D'yar'nath swatted the silver blade sword out of his hands and the silver blade sword slid across the floor, stopping near Cassandra's left hand. Taking a few steps, D'yar'nath's feet sank into the holes into the floor and D'yar'nath fell, landing hard on its ass and its eyes went wide. "Ooo, that had to hurt!"

D'yar'nath growled while it tried to get free when the floor collapsed and D'yar'nath tumbled downward, its arms flailing back and forth. Before Peter could move, the floor under him collapsed as he looked down and sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh fuck," Peter sighed as he fell and the last thing he heard was Cassandra calling his name.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Watching Peter falling through the floor nearly stopped her heart while Cassandra reached for the handle of the silver blade sword when her fingers wrapped around the handle and she lifted the handle of the silver blade sword off the floor. Jessie didn't have time to move when Cassandra slammed the handle of the silver blade sword against the side of Jessie's head and Jessie screamed, rolling over onto her back and looked up at Cassandra. Blood rolled out of the gash on the side of her head as Jessie growled and Cassandra stood up, holding the handle of the silver blade sword on her hands.

"Die, Bitch!" Cassandra shouted as she held the silver blade sword over her head and placed on foot on Jessie's chest. Pointing the silver blade down toward Jessie's chest, Cassandra looked down at her while Jessie arched her eyebrow and smirked.

"You can't do it, can you? You're no killer," Jessie said when Cassandra roared then slammed the silver blade down and the round, black diamond sailed across the floor after she severed Jessie's hand at the wrist. Pulling the silver blade out of the floor, Cassandra looked at Boe, who was sitting at the edge of the hole, and stamped down hard on Jessie's chest. Whistling, she motioned for Boe to come to her when Boe stood up and walked to her. The tiger stood next to her when Cassandra looked at Jessie and smiled.

"Sit!" Cassandra said when Jessie's eyes went wide and the tiger sat on Jessie's chest. Walking to the hand, Cassandra picked up the gold chain then looked at the round, black diamond and wrapped her fingers around the gold chain. "Frank, how good of a shot are you?"

"Pretty good," Frank said while Stephanie shined the light on the round, black diamond and Frank took aim with the rifle, pulling the trigger after Cassandra tossed the gold chain into the air. The round, black diamond exploded as Jessie screamed and Cassandra turned to her, flipping her off. Slowly walking to the hole, Cassandra looked down at the dark hole below as she sighed and folded her arms over her stomach.

"Peter," she said while Wiktor walked to her, gently wrapped his arms around her and Cassandra placed her face against his chest, the tears rolling freely down her cheeks.

"_Well, isn't this just fucking wonderful?" _Peter thought as he fell through the darkness and held his arms out while kicking his legs back and forth with hope of slowing himself down. He had lost sight of D'yar'nath and Peter closed his eyes, trying to remember what he was told about falling. He knew that falling in a dream was considered dangerous because crashing to the ground and dying meant a person dies in real life. He wasn't sure if Cassandra had sent Cross to rescue him as Peter sighed then grunted and felt something solid under his feet. He fell onto his bottom when he smelt something like rotten meat and sulfur and Peter opened his eyes, seeing what looked like long fingers in front of him. The sound of fire crackling and moaning filled his ears as Peter tried to stand, but could only get onto his knees and felt the soft, gray ground under his hands.

"What?" Peter asked as he poked the soft ground then saw what looked like cracks in the soft ground and Peter slowly crawled forward. He stopped when the long fingers bent toward him and Peter sat down on his bottom, looking up. "Oh shit."

D'yar'nath looked down at him as Peter slowly crawled toward the edge of the soft ground when he realized he was on D'yar'nath's hand and looked down, seeing flames flickering below him. Crawling quickly the other way, Peter sat down on his bottom when he sighed and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Ok, calm down. He wouldn't really hurt me. Would he? I saved his ass, but he could have left anytime. And Jessie still has his necklace. That means she still controls him and that means I'm fucked," Peter sighed when he noticed that D'yar'nath was shrinking and the hand slowly tilted until Peter was standing on the ground. D'yar'nath titled its head to one side as Peter noticed that the arm that had been severed had grown back and D'yar'nath flexed its fingers. "Right, about that, it wasn't me!"

"_Yes, I know that you were not the one that cut my arm off," _D'yar'nath said in a growling voice and Peter's eyes widened. _"Why are you surprised?"_

"I didn't know you spoke English."

"_I speak a wide variety of languages."_

"And you saved my life because I saved yours?"

"_Well, technically, I could have left at any time. But, yes, you did free me."_

"Which makes us even, sort of," Peter said and D'yar'nath nodded its head. "Mind if I ask where we are? I know we're in your realm, but I expected more than some fire, rocks and moaning."

"_This is roof of my castle. If you want to see the rest of it, just step over there," _D'yar'nath as it pointed with its hands toward the edge of the roof and Peter sighed, folding his arms over his chest.

"I'll think I'll pass. Mind sending me home?" Peter asked and D'yar'nath smiled. Peter watched while D'yar'nath raised a hand then snapped its fingers and everything went black.

"Peter?" a faraway voice asked as a soft beeping sound filled his ears and Peter slowly opened his eyes. The ceiling was bright and fuzzy while he blinked his eyes and sighed. Something soft touched his lips while he half closed his eyes and felt his chest rising and falling. Soft fingers moved through his hair as he moved his fingers on the bedding and opened his eyes again. Cassandra smiled at him then kissed his lips again when the door opened and the nurse walked in the room, walking toward the bed.

"He's awake," Cassandra said as the nurse stood next to the bed and Peter looked up at her, softly smiling. "Eyes front, Casanova."

"You're…no….fun," Peter whispered and his voice sounded like he had swallowed glass. A few minutes later the nurse left the room as Peter watched her bottom swaying under her short skirt and Cassandra smiled, rolling her eyes. Placing her finger on the side of his nose, she gently moved his head to face her and he softly smiled at her. "Mind…telling…me…what…just…happened?"

"I thought you could tell me. We found you unconscious on the floor in the basement and Detective Kincaide had to perform CPR because your heart had stopped," Cassandra said and softly stroked the soft chest hair, being careful of the wires.

"I…" Peter said then coughed and Cassandra gently tilted his head up to help him take a sip of water. Swallowing, Peter laid his head back on the pillow as he sighed and she stroked his hair. "I was in Hell."

"Really?" she asked with a smile and Peter arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but it wasn't like I thought it would be," Peter sighed and reached his hand up, watching her wrap her fingers around his fingers. "Then again, I was on the roof of D'yar'nath castle. He did say that I could go take a better look, but I didn't because I thought he would kick me off the roof."

"He told you? You mean D'yar'nath can talk?"

"_Of course I can talk," _D'yar'nath said as she turned around and her eyes widened. _"There is no need to fear. I will not harm you."_

"You mean like when you came to our bedroom the other night?" Cassandra asked while Peter looked from her to D'yar'nath and blinked his eyes a few times.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" he asked and Cassandra gently kissed the top of his head.

"_My captor had sent me to kill you, but I refused. It had nothing to do with your familiar. I sensed that you had the power to end my captivity," _D'yar'nath said then looked at Cassandra and softly smiled at her. _"I am sorry that I frightened you."_

"Anyway…." Peter sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands and looked up at Cassandra. "What happened after I fell through the floor?"

"Well, I grabbed your sword, smacked that bitch on the side of the head and cut her hand off," Cassandra said and Peter's eyes widened. "Boe sat on her while Frank and I destroyed the…." Cassandra looked at D'yar'nath then sighed and D'yar'nath softly laughed, shaking its head.

"_It is alright if you had to destroy my amulet. I have others," _D'yar'nath said and she nodded her head.

"I retrieved the necklace and tossed the necklace into the air. Turns out that Frank can shoot really well in near dark. The black diamond exploded and that's when we saw this red light coming from the hole. We went down to the basement and that's when we found you on the floor," Cassandra said and kissed the top of Peter's head. "Detective Kincaide said you weren't breathed and performed CPR. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later, but your heart was beating by the time the EMTs showed up."

"What about Doctor Forest?" Peter asked.

"That was the odd thing. When we went back up to check on her, she was gone. Detective Baker had handcuffed her to the radiator, but we only found the handcuffs," she said as D'yar'nath softly laughed and they gave D'yar'nath a confused look.

"Let me guess," Peter said with a smile. "She's now your prisoner."

"_You are correct," _D'yar'nath with a nod of its head as Peter sighed and half closed his eyes. Cassandra stroked Peter's hair when D'yar'nath walked closer and she looked at D'yar'nath. _"May I have a word?"_

"Sure," she said while D'yar'nath leaned closer and whispered in her ear. Watching as D'yar'nath snapped its fingers then disappeared, Cassandra smiled then leaned over and kissed Peter's lips, making him smile. Half opening his eyes, Peter reached up as she took his hand and kissed his knuckles then wrapped her fingers around his fingers.

"What did he whisper in your ear?" he asked then sighed, closing his eyes again.

"He said that you don't have to worry. You will never go back," she said and he opened his eyes, giving her a confused look. "In other words, you're not going down."

"I'm not sure I'm going up either," Peter sighed and she softly laughed, kissing his knuckles.

"Oh, I don't know. It may be tarnished, but that halo of yours is still there," she teased and he closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep. Careful of the wires, Cassandra slid onto the bed then snuggled close to him and placed her hand on his chest, just feeling the gently beating of his heart.

(Three weeks later)

The doors opened while the young women, Cassandra and Peter walked in the lobby and Cross gently purred inside the cage. After Peter was released from the hospital, they had performed for a week at the New York Hard Rock Hotel then spent two weeks in the Greek Islands after going to Athens for Zoltar's funeral. Tanned and relaxed, the young women walked toward the lift when Peter whistled and they stopped, turned and looked at him.

"Alright, you have ten minutes to get your mail and messages, unpack then get your asses in the showroom! We have a performance tonight!" Peter half shouted while clapping his hands and the young women glared at him.

"Fuck you," one of the young women said then walked away and Peter's mouth fell open while his eyes slightly bugged out.

"Disrespectful, the lot of them!" he said as he waved his hands in the air and Cassandra softly smiled at him. "Well, at least YOU will listen to me!"

"Fuck you," she said as she turned to walk away then yelped as Peter gently grabbed hold of her and turned her around to face him.

"I'd rather fuck you," he said as he slid his arm around her waist and they headed down the hallway while Cross softly made a sound that sounded like a laugh.


End file.
